PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 


BOOKS   ON  PHOTOGRAPHY 


Optics  for  Photographers,  by  Hans  Harting,  Ph.D. 
Translated  by  Frank  R.  Fraprie,  S.M.,  F.R.P.S.  Cloth, 
$2.50. 

Chemistry  for  Photographers,  by  William  R.  Flint. 
Cloth,  $2.50. 

Pictorial  Composition  in  Photography,  by  Arthur 
Hammond.  Cloth,  $3.50. 

Photo-Engraving  Primer,  by  Stephen  H.  Horgan. 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

PRACTICAL  PHOTOGRAPHY  SERIES 

Edited  by  Frank  R.  Fraprie,  S.M.,  F.R.P.S. 

Editor  of  American  Photography 

1.  The  Secret  of  Exposure. 

2.  Beginners'  Troubles. 

3.  How  to  Choose  and  Use  a  Lens. 

4.  How  to  Make  Prints  in  Color. 

5.  How  to  Make  Enlargements. 

6.  How  to  Make  Portraits. 

7.  How  to  Make  Lantern  Slides. 

8.  The  Elements  of  Photography. 

9.  Practical  Retouching. 

Each  volume  sold  separately.  Cloth,  $1.00;  paper,  50 
cents. 

American  Photography  Exposure  Tables,  96th  thousand. 
Cloth,  35  cents. 

Thermo  Development  Chart.    25  cents. 

American  Photography,  a  monthly  magazine,  represent- 
ing all  that  its  name  implies.  20  cents  a  copy.  $2.00  a 
year. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

AMERICAN  PHOTOGRAPHIC  PUBLISHING  Go. 

221  Columbus  Avenue,  Boston  17,  Massachusetts 


Fig.  27.    ST.  JOHN 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 
IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 


BY 

ARTHUR  HAMMOND 

ASSOCIATE   EDITOR   OF    AMERICAN   PHOTOGRAPHY 

WITH  49  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  THE  AUTHOR 


AMERICAN  PHOTOGRAPHIC  PUBLISHING  CO. 

BOSTON,  MASS. 

1920 


COPYRIGHT,    IQ20,    BY 
AMERICAN  PHOTOGRAPHIC    PUBLISHING  CO. 


TO 

DONALD 

FORREST 

ALFRED 

AND 

GORDON 

AS  A  SOUVENIR  OF  OUR  MANY  PLEASANT  TRIPS 
AROUND  CAPE  ANN  AND  IN  APPRECIATION  OF  THEIR 
HELPFULNESS  AND  CHEERFUL  COMPANIONSHIP 


631163 


PREFACE 

TO  tell  a  photographer  how  to  compose  his 
pictures  is  like  telling  a  musician  how  to 
compose  music,  an  author  how  to  write  a  novel 
or  an  actor  how  to  act  a  part.  Such  things  can 
only  grow  out  of  the  fulness  and  experience  of 
life.  Yet  the  musician  must  learn  harmony  and 
counterpoint,  the  novelist  must  know  the  rules 
of  grammar  and  the  proper  use  of  words,  the  actor 
must  study  elocution,  and  all  of  these  are  more  or 
less  exact  sciences  which  can  be  taught.  Their 
application  is  entirely  individual. 

So  in  pictorial  photography,  some  principles  of 
composition  can  be  acquired  from  books,  but  the 
most  important  element  of  success  —  the  personal- 
ity and  soul  of  the  artist  —  must  be  implanted  in 
the  individual  and  must  grow  with  his  experience. 

I  am  only  too  well  aware  that  much  has  been 
omitted  that  should  have  been  included  in  this 
little  book,  and  that  many  important  points  have 
been  but  lightly  touched  upon,  but  if  it  should 
contain  any  helpful  information  and  thus  serve 
to  encourage  some  who  have  hitherto  hesitated 
to  embark  on  the  uncharted  ocean  of  pictorial 

It 


PREFACE 

photography;  if  it  should  help  to  point  the  way 
to  the  friendly  haven  of  success,  my  purpose  will 
have  been  accomplished.  If  any  should  take  as 
much  pleasure  in  reading  as  I  have  in  writing, 
my  efforts  will  not  have  been  in  vain. 

BOSTON,  February,  1920. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Introductory  —  How  Pictorial  Photography  has  Benefited 
by  the  Energy  and  Enthusiasm  of  Technical  and  Scientific 
Experts  —  The  Need  for  Sound  Technical  Knowledge 
and  Training  —  Composition — The  Mechanics  of  Sugges- 
tion—  Teaches  Economy  in  the  Use  of  Tones;  Teaches 
What  and  How  to  Emphasize;  Teaches  What  and  How 
to  Eliminate;  Teaches  Appropriate  Action  Following  a 
Careful  Analysis  of  Impressions  —  The  Limitations  in 
Representation  —  What  is  a  Picture? 1-32 

r 

CHAPTER  II 

Spacing  —  Lines,  Horizontal,  Vertical,  Oblique  —  Variety  of 
Line  — The  Triangle  —  Curved  Lines  — The  S-shaped 
Curve  —  The  Unseen  Line  —  Balance  —  Tones  —  The 
Characteristic  Quality  of  Photography  —  Key 33-61 

CHAPTER  III 

Mass  —  Notan  —  Breadth  —  Pictorial  Balance  —  The  Un- 
corrected  Lens  for  Pictorial  Work  —  Accent  —  Figures 
in  Landscapes  —  Genre 62-83 

CHAPTER   IV 

Linear  Perspective  —  Focal  Length  of  the  Lens  with  Re- 
lation to  the  Point  of  View  —  Aerial  Perspective  —  The 
Effect  of  Atmosphere  on  the  Tones  of  a  Picture  —  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Orthochromatic  Photography  —  When  to 
Use  a  Color  Plate  —  Full  Correction  Sometimes  Unneces- 
sary  84-103 

[xi] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

Simplicity  —  Sympathy  —  Restraint  —  The  Law  of  Princi- 
pality—Emphasis  104-122 

CHAPTER  VI 

Line  Composition  Applied  to  Figure  Studies  —  The  Ver- 
tical Line  —  Repetition  of  Line  —  The  Curved  Line  — 
The  Lost  Edge  — The  Triangle  — The  Rectangle  — 
The  S-shaped  Curve  — The  Figure  8  — The  Hands  in 
Portraiture  —  The  Placing  of  the  Head  in  the  Picture 
Space  —  Groups  —  The  Background 123-141 

CHAPTER  VII 

Tones  in  Portraiture  —  Roundness  and  Solidity  Brought  out 
by  Lighting  —  Ordinary  Lighting  —  Outdoor  Portraits  — 
Home  Portraiture  —  Unusual  Lightings  —  The  Outfit  for 
Home  Portraiture 142-163 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Definition  of  Art  —  The  Need  for  Cultivated  Good  Taste 
—  Picture-making  Largely  Instinctive  —  Landscape  Pho- 
tography —  Imagination  —  The  Selection  of  Suitable 
Conditions  —  The  Illusion  of  Relief  — The  Illusion  of 
Distance  —  The  Illusion  of  Movement  —  Underexposure 
Fatal  to  Success  —  Night  Photography  —  Still-life  and 
Flower  Studies 164-188 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Technique  of  Pictorial  Photography  —  Developer  for 
Negatives  —  Intensification  —  Reduction  —  Printing  on 
Platinum  and  Other  Processes  —  Bromide  Enlarging  — 
Mounting  and  Framing  —  Retouching  —  Trimming .  .  189-210 


[xu] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Fig.  27.  St.  John Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

1.  A  Slimmer  Landscape 4 

"  2.  Echo  Bridge 12 

"  3.  Arthur 16 

"  4.  Half  Moon  Beach,  Gloucester 20 

"  5.  A  Spring  Flower 22 

"  6.  The  Camera  Club  Secretary 26 

"  7.  Sumac  Lane,  Rocky  Neck 28 

"  8.  An  American  Boy 32 

"  9.  The  Fenway,  Boston 34 

"  10.  Portrait  of  Freddie 36 

"  11.  The  Harlem  River 44 

"  12.  Starting  Out 46 

"  13.  Plum  Island 48 

"  14.  Portrait  of  A.  M.,  Jr 52 

"  15.  Portrait  of  L.  W 60 

"  16.  The  Explorers 64 

"  17.  Crescent  Beach,  Gloucester 66 

"  18.  The  Painter 70 

"  19.  Wingaersheek  Beach 74 

"  20.  At  the  Close  of  a  Stormy  Day 78 

"  21.  A  Home  Portrait 80 

"  22.  A  Summer  Camper 84 

"  23.  Portrait  of  a  Painter ." 92 

"  24.  The  Fair-haired  Boy 96 

"  25.  Charlie 98 

"  26.  Portrait  of  Jack 102 

"  28.  Portrait,  Mr.  B 106 

"  29.  George,  the  Scout 110 

"  30.  Building  the  Fire U ,« 

"  30A.  Young  Artists ' 

V  31.  Ready  for  the  Party 116 

"  32.  An  Out-door  Home  Portrait 124 

"  33.  In  the  Studio 128 

xiii 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

"  34.    Jimmie 130 

"  35.    The  Day  after  Christmas 134 

"  36.    Swapping  Pictures 138 

"  37.    Portrait,  F.  S.  H 142 

"  38.    Sunlight  Effect 144 

"  39.    The  Composer 148 

"  40.    John 156 

"  41.    Annisquam  Bridge,  Sunlight 160 

"  42.    Surf  at  Bass  Rocks 162 

"  43.    Rocky  Neck,  East  Gloucester 166 

"  44.    Sunrise  on  Lake  Winnepesaukee 170 

"  45.    The  Washington  Statue  at  Night 174 

"  46.    The  Little  Roy  in  the  Park 192 

"  47.    Ahnost  Human 196 

"  48.    Gordon 204 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION  IN 

PHOTOGRAPHY   0'itl' 

*    '     *     j      j  j 

CHAPTER  I 

Introductory  —  How  Pictorial  Photography  has  Benefited  by 
the  Energy  and  Enthusiasm  of  Technical  and  Scientific  Ex- 
perts—The Need  for  Soun<i  Technical  Knowledge  and 
Training — Composition — The  Mechanics  of  Suggestion  — 
Teaches  Economy  in  the  Use  of  Tones;  Teaches  What  and 
How  to  Emphasize;  Teaches  What  and  How  to  Eliminate; 
Teaches  Appropriate  Action  Following  a  Careful  Analysis  of 
Impressions — The  Limitations  in  Representation — What  is 
a  Picture? 

"PHOTOGRAPHY,  with  its  many  and  varied 
JL  aspects,  appeals  in  different  ways  to  people 
of  widely  differing  temperaments  and  this,  doubt- 
less, is  the  reason  for  the  almost  universal  interest 
taken  in  cameras  and  camera  results  the  world 
over.  This  interest  may  be  scientific  and  utili- 
tarian or  it  may  be  purely  aesthetic.  Photogra- 
phy may  be  regarded  either  as  an  art  or  as  a 
science,  and,  therefore,  an  artist  may  find  in  it 
just  as  much  to  interest  him  as  does  one^who  is 
mainly  concerned  with  the  scientific  laws  and 
principles  involved  in  the  production  of  a  photo- 
graphic print. 

The  artist  who  uses  the  camera  for  picture- 
making  is  following  only  one  of  the  many  branches 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 


of  photographic  work,  and  there  are  others  just 
as  interesting.     There  is  for  instance,  the  allur- 
ing field   of  photographic   chemistry,   that  tre- 
\  /  Ktendously  interesting  study  of  such  manifesta- 
tions of  nature  working  according  to  fixed  laws 
*          l 


t  chemical  reactions  originated  by  the  energy 
of  light  and  the  reduction  to  metallic  silver  of  the 
silver  salts  which  have  been  affected  by  light. 
The  science  of  optics,  too,  is  connected  very 
closely  with  photography,  and  here  is  another 
absorbing  study  for  the  practical  scientist,  who 
will  find  much  to  interest  him  in  the  study  of 
light  and  its  transmission  through  a  lens.  The 
purely  technical  problems  of  photography,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  ability  to  produce  perfect 
results  under  varying  conditions,  will  interest 
many  who  are  neither  artists  nor  scientists,  and 
such  lovers  of  technical  perfection  can  go  far 
before  their  interest  will  wane,  for  almost  every 
picture,  or,  at  any  rate,  every  class  of  pictures,  will 
offer  new  technical  problems.  In  the  study  of 
technique  alone  many  years  may  be  spent  with 
pleasure  and  profit. 

To  the  chemical  and  optical  experts  and  to  the 
enthusiastic  technicians  we,  as  photographers, 
owe  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude;  to  their  careful 
and  painstaking  investigation  and  research  are 
due  the  wonderful  strides  made  in  the  invention 
and  manufacture  of  the  photographic  apparatus 

'        [2] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  materials  now  at  our  disposal.  To  the  ex- 
perts in  photographic  chemistry  we  owe  the 
perfection  of  the  modern  dry  plate  with  its  won- 
derful speed  and  other  advantages  over  the  wet 
plates  of  the  past.  To  them,lalso,  we  owe  the  in- 
vention and  manufacture  of  orthochromatic  and 
panchromatic  plates,  which  place  in  our  hands 
a  wonderfully  efficient  means  of  securing  better 
pictures.  To  the  enthusiastic  technicians  and 
their  insistent  demands  for  better  and  more  effi- 
cient apparatus  we  owe  that  marvellous  photog- 
raphic tool,  the  modern  anastigmat  lens,  which 
so  greatly  enlarges  the  possibilities  of  photog- 
raphy. And,  in  answer  to  their  demands  for 
portability,  compactness  and  convenience  of  mani- 
pulation, we  have  the  roll-film  cameras  and  the 
miniature,  vest-pocket  cameras  with  exquisite  re- 
finements of  workmanship  and  tremendous  possi- 
bilities. There  are  some  who  look  down  from  the 
plane  of  high  art  and  are  complacently  tolerant 
of  the  technician  and  the  chemical  and  optical 
enthusiasts,  but  if  it  were  not  for  these  and  for 
their  energy  and  enthusiasm,  photography  would 
not  have  reached  its  present  high  standard  of 
artistic  quality. 

Those  whose  interest  in  photography  is  con- 
fined entirely  to  its  possibilities  as  a  means  of 
artistic  expression  and  pictorial  representation 
are  artists,  and  they  recognize  in  photography  a 

[33 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

flexible  and  responsive  medium  by  means  of 
which  they  can  express  their  pictorial  ideas  and 
convey  their  impressions  to  others. 

The  appreciation  of  beauty  is  an  almost  uni- 
versal human  attribute.  It  is  manifested  very 
early  in  life  by  the  little  child  who,  though  hardly 
able  to  walk,  will  toddle  gleefully  to  pursue  a 
butterfly  or  to  grasp  a  flower.  This  primitive 
instinct  sometimes  remains  dormant  in  an  adult 
whose  interests  and  activities  along  other  lines 
of  human  endeavor  leave  little  room  for  unprac- 
tical and  visionary  enthusiasms.  Often,  how- 
ever, the  childish  instinct  develops  and  expands 
in  later  life,  and  the  desire  to  create,  the  longing 
of  the  artist  to  produce  some  concrete  evidence 
of  his  thoughts  and  feelings,  is  the  logical  and 
natural  outcome  of  the  interest  in  beauty  that  is 
inherent  in  us  all. 

This  impulse  to  express  our  ideas  of  beauty 
must  be  guided  by  knowledge  and  training,  and 
much  hard  work  is  necessary  to  train  the  mind 
and  "that  clumsy  instrument,  the  human  hand" 
adequately  to  perform  the  tasks  demanded  of  it. 
It  is  so  in  all  branches  of  creative  art,  and  photog- 
raphy is  no  exception.  A  musician  works  hard 
for  many  years  to  perfect  himself  in  his  art;  a 
painter  has  to  put  in  many  years  of  training 
before  he  can  express  himself  fully,  with  satis- 
faction to  himself  and  others.  So  the  artist  in 


Fig.  1.     A  SUMMER  LANDSCAPE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

photography  must  work  and  study  to  make  him- 
self the  master  of  technical  difficulties.  In  his 
hands  the  camera  and  lens  should  be  flexible  and 
responsive  to  his  moods.  This  implies  a  thorough 
mastery  of  technical  details,  and  a  clear,  though 
not  necessarily  exhaustive,  understanding  of  the 
scientific  principles  involved  in  the  production  of 
a  photographic  print.  There  must  be  artistic 
feeling,  of  course,  but  that  alone  will  not  suffice. 
Knowledge  and  skill  are  also  required  to  enable 
the  artist  to  use  his  chosen  medium  to  the  best 
advantage.  It  is  a  mistake,  therefore,  for  the 
artist  in  photography  to  regard  technique  as  be- 
ing merely  mechanical  and  beneath  his  notice,  for, 
unless  he  possesses  a  thoroughly  sound  founda- 
tion of  technical  knowledge  and  manual  dexterity, 
his  work  will  always  be  crude  and  unfinished,  and 
he  will  never  have  complete  control  over  his 
medium. 

There  are  many  good  books  and  magazines 
which  deal  with  various  portions  of  the  technique 
of  photography  from  the  practical  standpoint. 
Therefore,  when  technical  advice  is  given  in  this 
volume,  it  will  be  on  the  supposition  that  my 
readers  already  possess  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  elementary  principles.  The  reader  is  referred 
to  other  volumes  in  this  series  for  additional  in- 
formation on  the  technical  and  scientific  aspects 
of  photography.  My  purpose  is  to  try  to  point 

C5] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

out  to  the  artist  in  photography  some  of  the  uni- 
versally recognized  rules  of  composition,  and  to 
give  as  much  practical  help  as  is  possible  in  deal- 
ing with  a  phase  of  artistic  work  in  which  the 
personal  equation  is  so  important  a  factor. 

Whether  or  not  the  ability  to  make  pleasing 
pictures  can  be  acquired  by  reading  books  on 
composition  may  be  open  to  question.  Person- 
ally I  think  it  can,  because  the  desire  to  learn, 
and  the  interest  in  the  subject  shown  by  this 
desire,  presuppose  a  natural  inclination  and  the 
germ  of  creative  ability.  This  can  be  cultivated 
by  study  and  by  practical  experience  along  the 
right  lines.  No  books  on  the  subject  can  actually 
teach  a  photographer  how  to  make  pictures. 
They  can  only  point  out  the  road  and  suggest 
lines  of  thought.  There  must  be  actual  experi- 
ment along  the  lines  suggested.  Composition  can 
become  a  habit  like  everything  else,  and  the  more 
one  works  at  it  the  easier  it  will  become.  If  the 
desire  is  there  and  one  is  interested  enough  to 
keep  on  trying,  one  day  he  will  get  a  real  picture. 
This  will  be  followed  later  by  another,  and,  in 
time,  the  ability  to  see  and  arrange  a  pleasing 
composition  will  become  habitual.  The  would- 
be  pictorialist  must  try  to  cultivate  the  ability  to 
see  everything  pictorially. 

The  object  of  the  picture-maker  is  to  express, 
not  facts,  but  the  emotions  which  these  facts 

C6] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

arouse  in  him.  In  order  to  be  able  to  do  this,  he 
must  understand  the  laws  of  composition  and 
also  those  that  affect  the  distribution  of  light  and 
shade.  His  eye  must  be  trained  to  distinguish 
values,  that  is,  the  varying  effect  of  light  on 
objects  of  different  material,  and  the  gradual 
change  in  the  color  or  tone  of  an  object,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  nearer  to  or  farther  away  from  the 
eye.  All  this  is  a  matter  of  study  and  experience, 
and  is  but  the  natural  development  of  an  instinc- 
tive sense  of  what  is  beautiful  in  line,  form  and 
tone.  When  this  instinctive  appreciation  of 
beauty  has  been  developed  along  the  right  lines, 
the  ability  to  discuss  and  criticize  pictures  as  well 
as  the  ability  to  make  pictures  will  be  more  com- 
plete. Instead  of  a  more  or  less  vague  idea  that 
such  a  thing  is  right  and  that  something  else  is 
not  right,  one  will  be  able  to  give  definite  reasons 
and  make  the  criticism  constructive  and  helpful. 
Artists  are  not  always  creative;  there  are  many 
people  who  admire  pictures,  who  enjoy  music  and 
literature,  who  can  appreciate  the  artistic  feeling 
shown  in  works  of  art,  but  who  are  quite  unable 
to  express  themselves  in  terms  of  art,  or  to  con- 
vey their  impressions  to  others  by  any  means  of 
artistic  representation.  Such  people  are  just  as 
much  artists,  however,  as  those  who  can  paint 
pictures,  compose  music  or  write  poetry.  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  writes  in  Ordered  South:  "We 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

admire  splendid  views  or  great  pictures;  and  yet 
what  is  truly  admirable  is  rather  the  mind  within 
us,  that  gathers  together  these  scattered  details 
for  its  delight,  and  makes  out  of  certain  colors, 
certain  distributions  of  graduated  light  and  dark- 
ness, that  intelligible  whole  which  alone  we  call 
a  picture  or  a  view." 

Those  who,  in  addition  to  being  able  to  enjoy 
and  appreciate  pictures,  possess  also  the  power 
of  expressing  their  ideas 'in  such  a  way  that  their 
pictures  may  be  enjoyed  and  appreciated,  are  but 
carrying  the  inherent  appreciation  of  the  beau- 
tiful to  its  logical  conclusion.  In  them  the  appre- 
ciation of  beauty  has  developed  into  a  craving  to 
create  beauty,  and  pictures  are  the  result  of  this 
craving. 

Thus  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  pictorial 
photographs  are  pictures  made  with  a  camera  by 
an  artist  for  the  benefit  of  other  artists;  pictures 
in  which  individual  artistic  aim  and  feeling  have 
found  their  expression  by  means  of  the  camera. 
The  artistic  aim  and  feeling  must  be  guided  by 
technical  skill  and  by  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
composition.  The  technical  skill  I  shall  take  for 
granted  and  shall  deal,  in  this  book,  mainly  with 
the  principles  of  composition. 

What  is  composition?  Why  is  composition  re- 
quired? Why  is  it  not  possible  to  photograph  a 

[8] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

beautiful  scene  or  a  beautiful  object,  and  thus 
make  a  picture? 

If  we  could  reproduce  in  a  picture  a  landscape, 
just  as  it  appears  to  each  one  of  us,  including  the 
color,  the  depth  and  spaciousness,  the  ever-vary- 
ing and  changing  lights,  the  interest  due  to  the 
swaying  branches  stirred  by  the  wind,  the  sounds 
and  scents  of  nature,  and  everything  else  that 
goes  to  make  such  a  view  attractive;  if  we  could 
pick  out  just  what  appeals  to  us  most  strongly 
and  could  include  in  the  picture  only  what  we 
want  to  see  and  leave  out  everything  else,  our 
reproduction  would  be  a  picture,  in  all  probability. 
But  it  is  not  possible  to  represent  thus  fully  or 
selectively.  At  best  we  can  only  suggest,  and 
composition  is  the  mechanics  of  suggestion. 

In  the  early  days  of  photography  popular  inter- 
est was  excited  by  the  camera's  ability  to  record 
facts.  Today  the  artist's  aim  is  to  make  it  record 
his  impressions  of  facts,  and  to  express  his  per- 
sonal feeling. 

The  artist  in  photography  is  handicapped  to  a 
considerable  extent  by  the  fact  that  the  camera 
is,  essentially,  a  copying  machine.  The  optical 
perfection  of  modern  lenses  and  the  orthochro- 
matic  qualities  of  the  sensitive  emulsion  tend  to 
make  it  wonderfully  efficient  in  this  respect.  But 
the  artist  must  learn  to  control  his  medium;  and 
knowledge,  skill  and  experience  will  enable  him 

[9] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

to  do  this  so  completely  that  in  his  hands  the 
camera  will  become  as  responsive  as  the  brushes 
and  pigments  of  the  painter.  Mere  copying  na- 
ture will  rarely  make  a  picture:  there  must  be 
individual  interpretation  by  the  artist,  and  the 
camera,  properly  controlled,  will  make  pictures 
that  show  this  individuality  very  plainly.  No  one 
who  is  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  leading  pic- 
torialists  would  mistake  a  picture  by  Coburn  for 
one  by  Porterfield;  and  a  portrait  by  Steichen 
can  be  readily  distinguished  from  one  by  Will 
Cadby.  The  individuality  of  the  artist  is  inter- 
preted by  the  camera  and  lens,  and  the  results 
produced  by  different  workers  are  different  be- 
cause each  artist  has  used  the  camera  to  record 
his  own  impressions  rather  than  to  reproduce 
actual  facts. 

A  view  or  a  landscape  will  impress  different 
people  in  different  ways,  just  as  a  human  individ- 
ual will.  Various  people  will  see  the  same  scene 
in  various  ways,  according  to  their  separate  indi- 
vidualities: some  people,  on  seeing  Niagara  Falls 
for  the  first  time,  will  be  so  impressed  by  the 
grandeur  and  magnificence  of  the  scene  that  they 
will  say  nothing;  it  will  be  beyond  mere  words. 
Others  might  give  a  casual  glance  and  say: 
"Isn't  it  great?" 

What  we  put  into  a  picture  is  a  record  of  the 
impression  which  a  scene  made  upon  us  at  the 

do: 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

particular  time  and  under  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  our  seeing  it.  Naturally,  the  impres- 
sions received  will  vary  greatly  according  to  indi- 
vidual temperament.  Each  sees  only  what  he 
has  the  capacity  for  seeing,  and  the  capacity  for 
seeing  is  determined  by  the  physical  condition  of 
the  eyes,  by  the  individual's  power  of  observa- 
tion, and  by  the  personal  likes  and  dislikes  which 
lead  one  to  look  for  certain  things  in  preference 
to  others.  A  farmer,  viewing  a  familiar  land- 
scape, would  see  it  very  differently  from  one  who 
might  happen  to  be  revisiting  the  dimly  remem- 
bered but  dearly  loved  scenes  of  a  happy  child- 
hood, after  many  years  of  absence.  The  scene 
itself  would  also  vary  greatly  under  different  con- 
ditions of  season  and  atmosphere.  We  might 
photograph  the  same  view  a  dozen  times  or  more 
under  different  conditions,  and  all  the  results 
would  be  unlike. 

Monet  painted  the  same  corner  of  a  courtyard 
at  Hampton  Court  several  times,  at  various  sea- 
sons of  the  year  and  under  varying  atmospheric 
conditions,  and  made  several  entirely  different 
pictures.  What  we  represent  in  a  picture,  there- 
fore, is  just  one  aspect  of  a  view  as  it  happens  to 
exist  at  the  chosen  time.  We  make  our  repre- 
sentation individual  by  emphasizing  those  as- 
pects of  the  subject  that  give  us  the  impressions 
which  we  desire  to  convey,  and  by  subduing  or 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

eliminating  anything  that  may  be  antagonistic  to 
these  impressions.  A  work  of  art,  whether  a 
painting  or  a  photograph,  is,  at  best,  only  an 
abstract  interpretation  of  actual  facts.  Nature 
gives  us  the  subject,  from  which  we  select  what 
we  want;  of  what'  we  select,  we  emphasize  part, 
or  eliminate  part;  and  composition  teaches  us  the 
practical  and  common-sense  methods  of  selecting, 
emphasizing  and  eHminating. 

What  we  can  do  in  the  way  of  actual  repre- 
sentation is  very  limited.  A  photograph  of  a 
landscape  is  very  largely  made  up  of  suggestion. 
To  begin  with,  we  cannot,  by  the  practical 
methods  at  present  at  our  command,  reproduce 
color  in  a  print,  but  can  only  suggest  it  by  getting 
the  tones  and  values  approximately  correct.  We 
cannot  actually  represent  the  life  and  movement 
of  the  scene,  the  changing  lights  and  shadows 
that  make  it  so  interesting;  we  cannot  simulate 
the  glorious,  blazing  sunlight  of  midsummer  or 
the  brilliant  sparkle  of  the  sun  on  snow  in  winter; 
we  can  only  suggest  these  things  by  means  of  a 
comparatively  few  gradations  of  tone,  ranging  at 
the  extreme  from  white  paper  to  a  black  deposit 
of  silver  or  platinum,  a  very  poor  substitute  for 
the  infinitely  longer  range  of  tones  in  nature. 
So  we  must  be  careful  how  we  use  these  grada- 
tions and  must  economize  and  make  them  go  as 
far  as  possible.  Composition  will  help  us  to  do 

[12] 


Fig.  2.     ECHO  BRIDGE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

this.  With  the  aid  of  composition  we  can  convey 
impressions,  and  these  impressions  will  be  more 
clearly  and  more  convincingly  conveyed  if  we 
make  intelligent  use  of  the  mechanics  of  sugges- 
tion—  the  recognized  formulae  known  as  the 
principles  of  pictorial  composition. 

This  applies  also  in  portraiture  as  well  as  in 
making  outdoor  pictures.  We  have  all  seen,  I 
am  sure,  a  snapshot  of  a  friend  or  even  a  tech- 
nically good  professional  portrait,  in  which  that 
friend  is  represented  in  a  way  that  is  quite  un- 
familiar and  far  from  characteristic,  so  that  the 
picture  fails  to  convey  the  desired  impression. 
This  is  usually  a  case  of  poor  selection;  the  good 
points  were  not  emphasized,  nor  were  the  unde- 
sirable features  subdued  or  eliminated,  therefore 
the  print  fails  to  be  a  picture.  We  have  to  be  as 
careful  in  selecting  the  right  conditions  under 
which  to  photograph  a  landscape  as  when  photo- 
graphing a  human  subject,  and  here  again  the 
principles  of  composition  will  help  us  by  teaching 
us  what  to  look  for,  and  by  guiding  us  in  the 
selection  of  the  best  point  of  view,  the  best  con- 
ditions of  lighting,  and  so  on.  Composition,  then, 
is  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  selection. 

Every  human  being  has  many  moods,  and  a 
clever  and  competent  artist  can  make  a  picture 
that  will  be  so  characteristic  of  one  particular 
mood  that  others  will  be  able  to  recognize  it. 

[13] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

The  artist  does  this  by  emphasis,  by  elimination, 
and  by  suggestion;  and  a  knowledge  of  composi- 
tion will  tell  him  what  to  emphasize,  what  to 
eliminate  and  how  to  suggest.  We  cannot  actu- 
ally represent  the  irrepressible  merriment  of  a 
happy  human  boy,  but  we  can  suggest  this  by 
emphasizing  his  bright  and  laughing  eyes,  and, 
similarly,  we  can  emphasize  the 'grace  and  dignity 
of  a  handsome  woman  by  having  a  predominance 
of  easy,  flowing  curves  in  the  line  composition  of 
the  picture. 

Not  only  human  beings  have  moods,  but  every- 
thing in  nature  has  moods.  Possibly  this  state- 
ment is  not  strictly  correct  because  the  word 
"mood"  presupposes  some  intelligence  and  voli- 
tion, but  the  sea,  under  varying  conditions,  sug- 
gests different  moods,  calm  and  quiescent,  or 
lashed  to  fury.  A  landscape  may  also  be  said  to 
have  moods,  and  may  thus  give  rise  to  different 
sensations  and  impressions.  It  may  convey  an 
impression  of  beauty;  its  grandeur  may  inspire 
awe;  it  may  suggest  melancholy  or  gloomy  ideas, 
or  may  give  an  impression  of  peacefulness,  calm 
and  quiet;  perhaps  solitude  may  be  suggested, 
or  desolation.  It  is  such  impressions  and  sensa- 
tions as  these  which  we  desire  to  convey  in  our 
pictures.  We  want  to  suggest  the  mood  of  the 
landscape,  just  as  we  suggest  the  moods  and 
characteristics  of  the  human  subject,  and  we  go 

[14] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

about  it  in  much  the  same  way,  by  emphasiz- 
ing, eliminating  and  suggesting,  which  we  are  en- 
abled to  do  clearly  and  convincingly  by  means 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  pictorial 
composition. 

We  must  be  sure,  first  of  all,  just  what  appeals 
to  us  in  looking  at  a  certain  view  or  landscape; 
we  must  try  to  analyze  our  impressions,  and  find 
out  just  what  the  prevailing  characteristic  is. 
This  will  give  us  some  idea  what  to  emphasize 
and  what  to  subdue  or  eliminate,  so  that  we  can 
make  our  impressions  clear  to  others.  Composi- 
tion, then,  is  appropriate  action  following  a  care- 
ful analysis  of  impressions. 

Let  us  see  how  this  works  out  in  actual  prac- 
tice. In  viewing  the  scene  before  taking  the  pic- 
ture, A  Summer  Landscape,  reproduced  as  Fig. 
1,  the  impressions  I  had  were  those  -of  space 
freedom  and  plenty  of  open  air,  and  they  were 
what  I  wished  to  suggest  in  the  picture.  The 
appropriate  action,  it  seemed  to  me,  was  to  leave 
a  good  deal  of  sky  above  the  horizon  and  to  make 
the  trees  rather  small  in  the  picture  space.  Again, 
in  Echo  Bridge,  (Fig.  2),  the  impression  I  had  was 
one  of  tremendous  height,  for  the  bridge  is  very 
high  above  the  water.  I  also  felt  that  the  curve 
of  the  arch  of  the  bridge,  repeated  hi  the  water, 
was  a  more  pleasing  line  than  the  straight  line 
of  the  aqueduct  along  the  top  of  the  bridge. 

[15] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

Thus  the  appropriate  action  in  this  case  was  to 
emphasize  the  height  of  the  bridge,  and  to  giv£ 
prominence  to  the  curved  line  of  the  arch  and  its 
reflection  in  the  water.  The  height  was  easily 
and  convincingly  suggested  by  placing  the  bridge 
very  high  in  the  picture-space.  By  the  same 
means  the  curved  lines  were  emphasized  and  the 
straight  line  at  the  top  was  brought  so  close  to 
the  upper  edge  of  the  picture  that  it  lost  a  good 
deal  of  its  force. 

Composition  is  very  largely  common  sense. 
Such  methods  of  emphasfe  as  those  referred  to 
are  quite  obvious  and  would  readily  suggest 
themselves  to  anybody.  The  appropriate  action 
will  usually  be  easily  discovered  as  soon  as  we 
-have  analyzed  our  impressions  and  have  made 
up  our  minds  as  to  just  what  we  want  to  suggest 
in  the  picture. 

The  emotions  suggested  by  facts,  not  the  facts 
themselves,  are  what  concern  the  picture-maker. 
This  is  where  he  is  differentiated  from  those  who 
seek  to  make  only  records  and  who  are  concerned 
only  with  facts.  Nature  provides  the  subjects 
which  are  the  material  to  be  used  in  picture-mak- 
ing, and  the  manner  of  using  the  material  is  what 
makes  or  mars  a  picture.  By  careful  selection  or 
arrangement  of  the  material,  by  emphasizing  the 
important  features,  and  by  curbing  the  prolific 
generosity  of  nature  by  ruthless  elimination  of 

[16] 


Fig.  3.     ARTHUR 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  unessentials,  the  picture-maker  can  make 
his  picture  deliver  a  message  and  convey  to  others 
the  thoughts  and  feelings  he  himself  experienced 
and  which  inspired  him  to  use  the  particular 
material  in  the  particular  way.  This  is  composi- 
tion; knowing  what  to  select,  how  to  arrange, 
what  to  emphasize  or  eliminate  and  how  to  do  it, 
and  the  aim  of  this  book  is  to  give  practical  in- 
struction along  these  lines. 

A  straight  photographic  representation  of  a 
scene  usually  has  only  a  very  limited  interest, 
which  is  purely  topographical.  A  picture  may 
be  considered  a  photographic  record  if  people 
say,  on  seeing  it:  "Oh,  yes,  that's  the  Grand 
Canal  in  Venice,"  or,  "That's  in  Honolulu;  we 
stopped  there  on  our  trip  around  the  world  last 
year,  and  there's  the  very  place  where  we  had 
lunch."  But,  if  they  say:  "Oh,  isn't  that  just 
typical  of  Venice?"  or,  "That  picture  of  Hono- 
lulu makes  me  almost  feel  the  blazing  sunlight 
of  Hawaii,"  then  the  picture  is  pictorial,  because 
it  suggests  an  emotion  and  conveys  an  impres- 
sion, instead  of  merely  imparting  local  informa- 
tion. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  in  order  to  get 
pictures  one  must  travel  far  afield  and  visit  the 
much  lauded  beauty  spots  of  the  world,  but  that 
is  by  no  means  the  case.  In  fact,  I  believe  I  am 
not  putting  it  too  strongly  in  saying  that  the 

[17] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

best  pictures  can  usually  be  found  at  home,  close 
at  hand,  no  matter  where  one  may  happen  to 
live.  In  cities  like  New  York  and  Boston  there 
are  endless  possibilities.  That  pictures  may  be 
found  in  the  vicinity  of  a  big  city,  and  pictures 
that  are  well  worth  while,  may  be  demonstrated 
by  the  success  of  Rudolph  Eickemeyer,  who 
made  the  majority  of  his  most  successful  pictures 
within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  his  home  in  Yonkers. 
You  must  get  the  spirit  of  a  place  and  study 
it  under  varying  conditions  before  you  can  get 
more  than  a  topographical  record.  I  do  not  in 
the  least  mean  to  imply  that  places  like  Venice, 
Honolulu  or  the  Grand  Canyon  will  not  furnish 
pictorial  material:  they  certainly  will,  as  much 
as  and  possibly  more  than  less  favored  localities; 
but  I  want  to  make  it  clear  that  the  success  of 
a  picture,  as  a  picture,  does  not  depend  upon  the 
topographical  interest  of  the  subject,  but  on  the 
ability  of  the  photographer  to  convey  impres- 
sions of  beauty  or  interest  by  his  manner  of  treat- 
ing it.  It  would  be  just  as  absurd  to  claim  that 
a  portrait  of  a  famous  person  could  not  be  a  good 
portrait.  Whether  or  not  it  is  a  good  portrait, 
and  suggests  the  character  and  personality  of  the 
person  portrayed,  depends  entirely  upon  the 
photographer  and  on  his  knowledge,  skill  and 
artistic  ability,  but  a  portrait  of  a  quite  unknown 
and  humble  individual  may  also  be  a  very  inter- 

[18] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

esting  picture  if  the  photographer  is  able  to  make 
it  so.  To  an  artist,  one  of  Mrs.  Kasebier's  Hu- 
man Documents,  or  the  series  of  character  por- 
traits by  Baron  de  Meyer,  including  Mrs.  Young 
of  King's  Road,  Chelsea  and  Mrs.  Wiggins  of 
Belgrave  Square,  are  far  more  interesting  than  a 
conventional  professional  portrait  of  a  famous 
personage.  In  my  own  case,  I  have  often  made 
friends  with  rough  little  Irish  or  Italian  young- 
sters and  have  made  pictures  of  them  that  have 
been  considered  interesting  as  showing  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  type. 

When  we  consider  that  a  photograph  is  noth- 
ing but  an  arrangement  of  varying  shades  of 
monotone,  ranging  from  white  paper  to  full  black 
or  sepia  or  whatever  the  color  may  be,  that  these 
shades  of  tone  form  certain  shapes,  some  very 
small  and  some  larger,  and  that  these  shapes  by 
their  arrangement  give  us  a  representation  of 
natural  objects,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  possi- 
bilities in  this  representation  are  rather  limited 
and  leave  a  good  deal  to  the  imagination. 

That  imagination  and  suggestion  are  impor- 
tant factors  in  representation  can  be  proved  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  quite  possible  to  make  by  a  few 
pencil  lines  a  sketch  of  a  face  that  can  be  recog- 
nized readily,  not  only  as  being  a  face  but  as 
being  the  face  of  one  particular  individual.  By 
a  few  clever  lines  an  artist  can  make  a  likeness 

[19] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

that  suggests  the  character  and  the  personality  of 
a  particular  individual,  and  yet  there  may  be 
nothing  but  a  few  outlines.  With  photography 
we  can  go  farther  than  that;  we  can  get,  not 
only  the  outlines  and  shapes,  but  also  the  shading 
which  will  give  roundness  and  modeling.  This  is 
composition  —  the  mechanics  of  suggestion  —  for 
the  artist,  in  making  his  pencil  sketch,  was  guided 
by  the  mechanics  of  suggestion  in  the  disposition 
of  his  lines,  and  the  photographer  is  guided  by 
his  knowledge  of  composition  in  the  disposition 
of  the  halftones  and  gradations  of  tone  as  well  as 
the  outlines  of  the  objects  in  his  picture.  By 
means  of  composition  we  can  to  some  extent 
make  up  for  the  limitations  in  representation. 

The  lack  of  color  in  photographs  is  a  frequent 
source  of  disappointment.  Often  we  are  at- 
tracted by  a  view  because  its  color  appeals  to 
us,  and  we  are  disappointed  when  we  have  photo- 
graphed it  because,  without  the  color,  it  loses 
much  of  its  charm.  Therefore  we  must  look  for 
qualities  which  we  can  more  readily  and  more 
adequately  transfer  to  our  picture.  Composi- 
tion will  teach  us  what  to  look  for  and  how  to 
transfer  it. 

Another  limitation  in  representation  that  com- 
position will  help  us  to  overcome  is  the  difficulty 
experienced  in  trying  to  represent  on  a  flat  sheet 
of  paper  the  depth  and  vast  expanse  of  a  land- 

[20] 


£ 


Fig.  4.     HALF  MOON  BEACH,  GLOUCESTER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

scape.  This  is,  obviously,  a  matter  of  sugges- 
tion, for  the  view  that  we  see  may  extend  for 
miles  into  the  distance  or  perhaps  only  for  a 
few  hundred  yards,  but,  in  either  case,  we  shall 
have  to  make  good  use  of  suggestion  to  give  an 
impression  of  depth  and  area  on  our  flat  picture 
surface.  We  can  suggest  depth  and  space  very 
well  by  photography,  if  we  know  how  to  do  it. 
Composition  will  help  us  to  solve  this  problem, 
for  it  is  one  of  perspective,  linear  and  aerial,  the 
study  of  which  is  included  in  the  study  of 
composition. 

The  reduction  to  a  small  area,  sometimes  only 
a  few  square  inches,  of  a  vast  expanse  of  nature 
sometimes  gives  disappointing  results,  for  ob- 
jects that  appear  to  be  quite  important  in  the 
real  scene  are  almost  lost  and  are  hard  to  dis- 
tinguish in  the  picture.  This  may  be  because 
we  have  included  too  many  different  objects, 
or  it  may  be  because  the  object  we  regarded  as 
important  is  not  really  prominent  or  noticeable 
in  the  landscape,  but  appeared  so  because  we 
concentrated  our  interest  on  it  and  overlooked 
everything  else.  There  may  be  personal  or  his- 
torical interest  attached  to  some  particular  ob- 
ject in  the  view,  but  unless  we  emphasize  or 
isolate  this  particular  object  and  employ  the 
mechanics  of  suggestion  to  make  it  prominent  in 
our  picture,  it  will  not  be  rendered  in  the  picture 

[21] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

any  differently  from  any  other  objects  that  may 
be  included  in  the  view.  The  lens  has  no  per- 
sonal preferences,  has  not  studied  history,  and  is 
absolutely  impartial. 

This  illustrates  one  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  composition,  that  of  unity  or  concen- 
tration of  interest,  and  demonstrates  the  impor- 
tance of  having  only  one  prominent  object  of 
interest  in  a  picture.  We  have  to  do  the  best 
we  can  to  make  it  evident  what  our  principal 
object  of  interest  is,  and  we  do  it  by  emphasis 
and  elimination,  which  are  part  of  the  mechanics 

of  suggestion. 

1  •'.-•*'  .  "  &  . 

•     .!* ,  •  £''.     •        .        •      - '  * '.       •        •        . 

Having  thus  roughly  outlined  an  answer  to  the 
question:  "What  is  composition?"  the  next  im- 
portant question  that  arises  is:  "What  is  a  pic- 
ture?" 

In  our  daily  life  we  are  surrounded  by  a  multi- 
tude of  interesting  things,  and  those  of  us  who 
are  sensitive  to  beauty  often  find  much  of  this 
quality  in  quite  ordinary  and  commonplace  ob- 
jects and  scenes.  It  is,  as  Stevenson  tells  us, 
"the  mind  within  us"  that  can  see  beauty  where 
others  can  see  only  the  prosaic  and  commonplace. 
Such  vision  is  partly  instinctive  and  partly  the 
result  of  training.  Dodge  MacKnight  can  see 
color  and  beauty  in  a  line  of  clothes  hanging  out 
to  dry,  and  Stieglitz,  Coburn  and  A.  H.  Blake 

[22] 


Fig.  5.     A  SPRING  FLOWER 


8gO?:UAU 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

can  see  beauty  in  the  mean  streets  of  a  great  city. 
The  beauty  of  a  picture  does  not  depend  entirely 
upon  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  the  objects  depicted, 
but  upon  the  truth  with  which  the  picture-maker 
suggests  to  others  the  impressions  that  affected 
him  and  led  him  to  choose  his  subject.  Beauty 
of  line  and  tone,  concentration  of  interest,  bal- 
ance, simplicity  and  so  on,  are  not  mere  vague 
terms,  the  jargon  of  the  studio,  but  are  definite 
and  practical  attributes  of  beauty  in  pictures, 
and  it  is  on  such  things  as  these  that  the  beauty 
of  our  picture  depends.  Just  what  these  things 
are,  and  how  they  may  be  used  in  picture-making, 
will  be  explained  in  the  following  chapters,  but 
one  answer  to  the  question:  "What  is  a  picture?" 
can  be  given  by  saying  that  a  picture  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  an  object,  a  scene  or  a  person,  in 
which  the  picture-maker,  by  the  skilful  use  of 
good  lines  and  pleasing  tones,  by  concentrating 
the  interest  and  by  securing  balance  and  har- 
mony, has  made  an  arrangement  that  appeals  to 
our  imagination  and  gives  us  an  impression  of  a 
mood  or  an  emotion  rather  than  a  bare  statement 
of  fact. 

Suppose  an  architect  and  a  painter  were  walk- 
ing through  the  Fenway  in  Boston  and  stopped 
to  look  at  and  to  make  a  sketch  of  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts.  Of  course  the  architect  might  well 
be  an  artist,  just  as  the  painter  is  an  artist,  but 

[23] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

we  will  suppose  that  his  sketch  is  intended  to  be 
a  record  of  the  architecture  of  the  building.  Both 
would  use  the  same  subject  for  their  pictures,  but 
each  would  treat  it  differently,  because  it  would 
make  a  different  impression  on  each  of  them, 
and  would  give  rise  to  different  emotions  in  the 
two  minds.  The  painter  might  be  impressed  by 
the  play  of  sunlight  on  the  white  columns;  he 
might  take  this  as  the  theme  or  motive  of  his 
picture,  and,  therefore,  do  all  he  could  to  empha- 
size this  particular  feature.  Possibly  he  would 
select  a  viewpoint  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream, 
and  thus  get  the  columns  reflected  in  the  water. 
In  doing  so  he  would  be  employing  a  principle  of 
composition,  the  principle  of  repetition  with 
variety,  and  this  would  help  to  emphasize  his 
theme.  He  would  in  this  way  concentrate  the 
interest,  and  make  it  apparent  in  the  picture 
that  the  play  of  sunlight  on  the  white  stone  was 
the  thing  that  attracted  him.  The  rest  of  the 
subject  would  be  subordinate,  and  would  form 
an  appropriate  setting  for  the  principal  object  of 
interest;  only  just  enough  would  be  included  in 
the  picture  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  rest  of 
the  building;  the  emphasis  would  be  on  the  sun- 
lit columns  and,  from  the  pictorial  standpoint, 
such  a  manner  of  treating  the  subject  might  well 
be  entirely  convincing  and  pleasing.  The  artist 
would  have  seen  and  seized  upon  one  aspect  of 

[24] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  subject  and,  using  this  as  the  theme,  would 
have  composed  a  picture,  making  this  one  idea 
more  prominent  than  anything  else.  The  pic- 
ture would  thus  have  one  definite  idea  or  motive 
and,  if  the  artist's  use  of  the  mechanics  of  sug- 
gestion were  successful,  the  picture  would  con- 
vey to  others  the  same  impressions  which  the 
artist  received  when  he  selected  the  subject  and 
resolved  to  treat  it  in  this  particular  manner. 
"Art,"  as  A.  J.  Anderson  tells  us  in  The  Artistic 
Side  of  Photography,  "is  the  expression  of  a 
theme,  and  composition  is  the  constructive  part 
of  expression." 

The  architect,  on  the  other  hand,  might  have 
quite  different  aims  and  different  motives,  and 
he  would  go  about  the  work  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent manner.  We  will  suppose  that  he  is  inter- 
ested in  the  subject  simply  as  an  example  of 
architecture.  This  being  so,  he  would  be  apt  to 
put  carefully  into  his  sketch  all  possible  detail; 
he  would  get  as  exact  and  as  truthful  a  record  as 
he  could.  Nothing  would  be  emphasized  or  given 
more  prominence  than  anything  else;  all  would 
be  put  in  quite  impartially. 

This  is  an  example  of  how  two  men  could  use 
the  same  subject  in  different  ways  and  from  dif- 
ferent motives.  Each  would  get  what  he  wanted 
and  each  would  find  the  subject  interesting  and 
suggestive.  Each  would  see  the  same  thing,  but 

[25] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

differently,  and  the  two  pictures  probably  would 
be  quite  different,  though  each  might  well  be 
very  interesting  and  satisfying,  and  quite  exact 
and  truthful. 

Similarly,  two  photographers  might  photograph 
the  same  subject  with  different  intentions  and 
with  a  different  result  in  mind;  one  might  want 
to  make  a  pictorial  photograph,  and  the  other  an 
architectural  record.  Consequently  their  meth- 
ods would  vary  in  much  the  same  way  as  the 
methods  of  the  architect  and  the  painter.  In  the 
architectural  record  we  should  be  able  to  see 
every  detail  clearly,  and  the  picture  would  un- 
doubtedly be  very  interesting  and  very  beautiful. 
The  interest  and  beauty,  however,  would  be  due 
to  such  qualities  inherent  in  the  subject;  there 
would  be  no  personal  interpretation,  and  no  sug- 
gestion of  emotions  or  individual  impressions. 
The  pictorial  photographer  would  use  the  subject 
as  so  much  pictorial  material.  He  would  analyze 
his  impressions  and  would  then  try  to  convey 
these  impressions  to  others.  He  would  pick  out 
one  aspect  of  the  subject,  such  as,  for  instance, 
the  play  of  sunlight  on  the  pillars,  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  of  pictorial  composition 
would  lead  him  to  emphasize  and  bring  it  out 
clearly.  This  would  be  the  theme  of  his  picture, 
and  the  rest  of  the  subject  would  be  just  the 
setting  for  the  theme.  He  would  select  the  point 

[26] 


Fig.  6.     THE  CAMERA  CLUB  SECRETARY 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

of  view  with  due  regard  to  emphasis,  would  pick 
out  the  best  lighting  conditions,  and  would  do 
everything  possible  to  make  perfectly  clear 
what  was  the  main  and  important  feature  in  his 
representation.  His  picture  would  be,  not  a 
record  of  a  building,  but  a  representation  of  the 
beauty  of ;  sunlight  on  white  columns.  He  would 
make  use  of  the  mechanics  of  suggestion  to  con- 
vey his  impressions  to  others,  and  the  picture 
would  be  likely  to  have  a  more  lasting  interest 
and  to  make  a  stronger  appeal  than  an  archi- 
tectural record,  because  there  would  be,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  interest  of  the  subject,  the  added 
interest  given  by  an  individual  interpretation  of 
the  impressions  of  the  artist.  The  picture  would 
"convey  a  mood,  rather  than  impart  local  infor- 
mation," and  this  would  make  it  a  picture  rather 
than  a  record. 

Composition  in  picture-making  is,  to  some 
extent,  a  matter  of  common  sense.  In  making 
pictures  we  are  dealing  with  impressions  rather 
than  with  concrete  facts.  Composition  is  the 
application  of  common  sense,  with  a  due  regard 
for  the  teachings  of  experience,  to  finding  the 
best  means  of  making  our  impressions  clear  to 
others.  Composition,  too,  is  largely  a  matter  of 
instinct;  the  photographer  will  often  be  led  to 
yield  to  an  impulse  and  to  arrange  his  pictorial 
material  in  a  certain  way  just  because  he  feels 

[27] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

that  it  is  right  to  do  so,  although  he  may 
not  always  stop  to  reason  it  out.  This  psychic 
quality  in  the  artist  is  something  that  is  well 
worth  heeding,  but  such  an  instinct  for  composi- 
tion will  be  more  to  be  depended  upon  if  it  is 
backed  up  by  a  knowledge  of  the  universally 
recognized  rules  and  principles  of  pictorial  com- 
position which  will  be  enumerated,  explained  and 
illustrated  in  the  following  chapters. 

The  would-be  picture-maker  must  learn  to 
think  pictorially;  he  must  try  to  regard  a  pic- 
ture as  a  pattern,  as  an  arrangement  of  lines  and 
shapes,  making  in  themselves  a  pleasing  and 
satisfying  design,  quite  apart  from  the  objects 
represented.  The  lines  will  form  certain  shapes, 
and  the  shapes  will  vary  in  tone;  some  may  be 
light,  some  dark  and  some  of  intermediate  shades 
of  gray,  which  we  call  halftones.  He  must  try 
to  disregard  the  actual  subject  of  the  picture  to 
some  extent.  He  must  think  of  it  as  a  series  of 
shapes  and  masses  of  varying  tone,  from  which 
he  can  select  and  arrange  the  material  to  fill  the 
picture  space,  so  that  the  result  will  be  pleasing 
in  design  and  the  space  will  be  adequately  filled. 
He  must  not  take  it  for  granted  that  because  he 
is  photographing  a  beautiful  view  or  a  handsome 
person  his  result  will  necessarily  be  pictorial.  It 
may  be,  or  it  may  not.  That  depends  entirely 
upon  the  photographer,  because  he  has  the  power 

[28] 


Fig.  7.     SUMAC  LANE,  ROCKY  NECK 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  control  his  results  and  to  make  his  interpreta- 
tion individual  rather  than  mechanical.  If  all 
photographic  representation  were  pictorial,  nearly 
every  photograph  would  be  a  picture;  for  no  one 
would  deliberately  select  an  ugly  object  to  photo- 
graph if  the  beauty  of  the  picture  depended  upon 
the  beauty  of  the  objects  in  it.  That  this  is  not 
the  case  may,  I  think,  be  proved  by  calling  to 
mind  pictures  which  are  beautiful,  although  they 
are  representations  of  quite  ordinary  objects.  I 
remember  a  picture  by  an  English  pictorialist, 
which  was  hung  at  the  London  Salon  some  years 
ago.  It  was  a  still-life  study,  and  the  objects 
represented  were  three  or  four  onions  on  a  dish. 
We  do  not  usually  think  of  an  onion  as  a  pictu- 
resque object,  yet  the  picture  was  beautiful  because 
the  objects  were  pleasingly  represented;  the  lines 
of  the  picture  were  good;  the  shapes  and  masses 
of  tone  were  very  interesting  and  made  a  pleas- 
ing pattern;  the  picture  was  well  composed,  and, 
therefore,  it  was  a  good  picture,  even  though  it  was 
a  representation  of  common  and  unprized  objects. 
I  do  not  by  any  means  wish  to  imply  that 
beautiful  objects  should  be  avoided  in  picture- 
making.  Quite  the  reverse:  if  the  objects  repre- 
sented are  beautiful,  so  much  the  better.  I  do 
want  to  make  it  clear  that  the  success  of  the 
picture  does  not  depend  entirely  upon  the  beauty 
of  the  subject,  but  mainly  upon  the  manner  in 

[29: 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

which  the  picture-maker  uses  his  pictorial  material. 

A  study  of  Japanese  art  will  show  that  the 
Japanese  often  care  nothing  for  truthful  repre- 
sentation, but  sacrifice  everything  to  composi- 
tion. In  many  Japanese  prints  we  see  represen- 
tations of  objects  that  are  like  nothing  which 
actually  exists  on  earth,  above  the  earth,  or  in 
the  waters  under  the  earth,  but  we  always  find 
good  lines  and  interesting  masses,  and  invari- 
ably the  design  is  pleasing  and  satisfying,  and 
well  fills  the  picture  space.  Years  ago  Japanese 
art  was  thought  to  be  grotesque  and  fanciful. 
People  used  to  smile  at  it  and  think  it  queer, 
but  now  we  realize  that  the  artists  knew  what 
they  were  doing,  and  we  accept  as  sound  art 
many  of  their  ideas  and  methods  in  pictorial 
representation. 

To  repeat,  the  first  thing  the  picture-maker  has 
to  do  is  to  learn  to  think  in  terms  of  line,  mass 
and  tone;  he  must  regard  the  subject,  not  as  any 
specific  object  or  several  objects  that  he  is  to 
photograph,  but  as  material  with  which  he  is  to 
compose  his  picture  so  that  the  lines  are  decora- 
tive and  pleasing  and  so  that  the  shapes  of  the 
masses  bounded  by  these  lines  are  interesting  in 
form  and  tone.  The  very  word  composition, 
defined  as  "the  act  of  composing;  putting  to- 
gether; arranging  in  proper  order,"  implies  that 
the  picture-maker  must  do  something  besides 

[30] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

setting  up  his  camera  and  letting  it  photograph 
just  what  happens  to  be  before  it. 

In  portraiture,  genre  pictures  or  figure  studies, 
and  in  still-life  pictures,  flower  studies,  etc.,  the 
picture-maker  can  actually  arrange  and  put  to- 
gether the  component  parts  of  his  picture;  he  can 
select  what  he  wants  and  arrange  it  as  he  thinks 
best,  and  therefore  the  composition  is  entirely 
under  his  control.  This  is  constructive  composi- 
tion. There  is  another  kind  of  composition,  called 
selective  composition,  which  is  applied  to  such 
pictures  as  depend  for  their  arrangement  upon 
selection  both  of  the  subject  and  of  the  point  of 
view.  Landscape  pictures  and  marine  studies 
come  under  the  head  of  selective  composition, 
because  in  such  pictures  the  photographer  cannot 
actually  arrange  his  material.  He  has  to  take 
what  exists,  and  arrange  his  lines  and  masses  by 
selecting  the  proper  viewpoint  from  which  good 
composition  can  be  secured. 

When  we  study  composition,  we  find  that  there 
are  certain  facts  regarding  the  lines  in  a  picture 
which  we  should  know;  that  some  lines  are  re- 
garded as  being  more  satisfactory  than  others; 
and  that  we  can  suggest  certain  emotions,  pleasur- 
able and  otherwise,  by  means  of  lines.  This  is 
dealt  with  fully  and  practically  in  a  succeeding 
chapter.  We  also  find  that  we  must  be  careful  to 
give  the  halftones  in  the  picture  proper  depth  of 

[31: 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

tint.  What  we  have  to  do  and  how  to  do  it  in 
this  respect  will  also  be  discussed  later.  We  shall 
also  find  that  we  can  help  to  make  a  picture  more 
pleasing  by  having  only  one  main  object  of  in- 
terest. This  law  of  concentration  of  interest,  and 
other  equally  important  laws  concerning  balance, 
harmony,  variety  and  simplicity,  are  all  quite 
practical  and  rational  means  by  which  we  can 
suggest  emotions  and  impressions  and  in  this 
way  make  our  pictures  interesting  and  beautiful. 
They  are  simply  the  obvious  and  common  sense 
methods  that  govern  the  mechanics  of  sugges- 
tion. These  laws  and  principles  are  quite  defi- 
nite and  should  be  thoroughly  understood,  but 
their  application  in  practical  picture-making  must 
be  guided  by  circumstances.  Sometimes  the  laws 
may  be  modified  and  adapted  to  the  occasion, 
but  they  cannot  be  entirely  disregarded,  for  it 
will  be  found,  when  good  taste  and  critical  judg- 
ment have  been  developed  by  practical  experi- 
ence, that  a  bad  line,  a  false  tone,  or  a  lack  of 
balance  in  a  picture  will  be  as  noticeable  to  the 
cultivated  eye  as  a  false  note  or  a  wrong  harmony 
would  be  to  the  trained  ear  of  a  musician. 


[32] 


Fig.  8.     AN  AMERICAN  BOY 


CHAPTER  II 

Spacing  —  Lines,  Horizontal,  Vertical,  Oblique  —  Variety  of  Line 
—  The  Triangle  —  Curved  Lines  —  The  S-shaped  Curve  — 
The  Unseen  Lone  —  Balance  —  Tones  —  The  Characteristic 
Quality  of  Photography  —  Key. 


simplest  possible  conception  of  a  picture 
JL  is  an  arrangement  of  lines  cutting  into  a 
rectangular  space  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it 
interesting.  It  may  be  a  conventional  pattern 
or  design,  bounded  by  the  edges  of  the  picture- 
space,  or  it  may  be  a  representation  of  an  object 
or  a  scene  in  nature. 

When  the  picture-space,  instead  of  being  blank 
and  empty,  has  been  cut  into  areas  of  varying 
shapes  and  sizes,  our  interest  is  at  once  aroused, 
and  whether  the  shapes  and  areas  represent 
natural  objects  or  whether  they  form  merely  a 
conventional  pattern,  we  have  the  elements  of 
decoration.  From  this  simple  beginning  we  can 
go  on  to  the  elaboration  of  shading  with  half- 
tones and  shadows  to  give  a  suggestion  of  round- 
ness and  solidity,  or  we  can  use  color  to  suggest 
as  well  as  we  can  the  colors  of  nature,  but  the 
fundamental  element  of  picture-making  is  the 
cutting  of  the  picture-space  by  lines  or  edges  of 
tones,  and  this  is  what  is  known  as  "spacing." 

[33] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

In  Chapter  I,  I  urged  the  picture-maker  to  try 
to  think  pictorially  and  to  regard  a  picture  as  an 
arrangement  of  masses  and  shapes,  lines,  curves 
and  angles,  rather  than  as  a  representation  of  a 
definite  object  or  scene  in  nature,  and  now  I 
would  recommend  the  photographer  to  regard 
the  focusing-screen  of  his  camera  as  a  space  to 
be  divided  into  a  pleasing  pattern,  rather  than 
as  a  glass  on  which  a  reduced  fascimile  of  a  scene 
or  view  or  a  miniature  likeness  of  a  person  can 
be  seen.  The  painter  regards  his  canvas  as  a 
space  to  be  decorated  with  a  harmonious  arrange- 
ment of  lines  and  areas  which  will,  in  themselves, 
make  a  pleasing  pattern  or  design;  he  uses  natural 
objects  merely  as  material  with  which  to  compose 
his  picture,  and  the  photographer  should  try  to 
compose  his  pictures  in  the  same  way. 

If  we  take  a  rectangular  blank  space  and  cut 
it  by  a  series  of  lines,  we  get  a  pattern  which  may 
be  simple  or  complex  according  to  the  number 
and  direction  of  the  lines.  On  the  disposition  of 
the  lines  in  a  picture,  and  on  the  arrangement  of 
the  masses  or  areas  of  tone,  depend  the  success 
of  the  result.  The  effective  ways  of  dividing  the 
picture-space  by  lines  and  masses  are  probably 
innumerable.  The  finest  effects  often  present 
themselves  as  happy  surprises.  Rules  and  sug- 
gestions must  necessarily  be  largely  in  the  nature 
of  what  to  avoid. 

[34] 


Fig.  9.  -  THE  FENWAY,  BOSTON 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

It  will  be  obvious,  I  think,  that  a  very  regular 
arrangement  or  pattern  will  be  less  interesting 
than  one  in  which  the  various  parts  differ  in 
size  and  shape.  A  rectangular  space  exactly  bi- 
sected by  a  straight  horizontal  line  is  less  inter- 
esting than  a  similar  space  divided  by  a  horizon- 
tal line  above  or  below  the  exact  centre,  making 
two  spaces  of  unequal  size.  When  a  vertical  line 
is  added,  cutting  the  rectangular  space  in  another 
direction,  the  interest  is  greatly  augmented. 

This  cutting  of  the  picture-space  into  varying 
shapes  or  areas,  some  of  which  may  be  light  and 
some  dark  in  tone,  is  called  spacing.  The  areas 
of  tone  are  called  masses  and,  whatever  the  sub- 
ject of  the  picture  may  be,  its  success  as  a  picture 
depends  very  largely  on  the  effectiveness  of  the 
spacing  and  massing.  The  pictorialist  must  re- 
member this,  and  must  regard  the  picture-space 
as  an  area  to  be  filled  by  decorative  masses,  rather 
than  as  a  window  or  opening  through  which  things 
are  seen.  The  edges  or  boundaries  of  the  picture- 
space  play  an  important  part  in  the  arrangement 
of  lines  and  areas  within  the  boundaries  and  are, 
therefore,  important  factors  in  the  disposing  of 
forms  and  masses. 

This  aspect  of  the  subject;  regarding  a  picture 
as  a  pattern  or  design  rather  than  as  a  representa- 
tion of  an  object  or  objects,  explains  why  an 
artist  finds  it  necessary  to  select  and  arrange, 

[35] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

and  is  not  always  content  to  take  a  fragment  of 
nature  and  transfer  it  to  his  picture.  A  slavish 
imitation  of  accidental  facts  is  not  always  good 
art.  The  artist  has  to  select  and  arrange  in  order 
to  make  the  lines  and  shapes  and  space  relations 
conform  to  his  taste  and  his  appreciation  of  a 
satisfying  pattern.  Thus  he  gets  effectiveness 
and  pictorial  interest,  as  distinguished  from  mere 
map  work  or  the  scientific  exhibition  of  details. 
In  order  to  be  able  to  select  and  arrange,  we 
must  learn  to  'see  things  in  terms  of  lines,  shapes 
and  masses.  Then  we  can  determine  from  what 
point  of  view  to  photograph  our  subject,  if  it  be 
a  scene  in  nature,  so  that  its  lines  and  masses  will 
form  fine,  or  at  least  agreeable,  space  divisions. 
The  chief  difference  between  drawing  or  paint- 
ing and  photography  is  that  the  painter  can  build 
up  his  picture  as  he  goes  along;  he  begins  with  a 
blank  space  which  he  desires  to  fill  in  a  pleasing 
manner.  In  landscape  painting,  the  artist  often 
alters  the  shape  or  position  of  the  objects  he  is 
studying,  such  as  mountains,  rivers,  or  trees,  and 
adapts  them  to  suit  his  purpose.  He  seldom 
draws  them  absolutely  accurately,  or  exactly  as 
they  are;  he  emphasizes  some  things  and  elimi- 
nates others,  and  his  picture  contains  only  those 
elements  of  the  scene  or  view  which  he  considers 
essential  to  suggest  the  impressions  he  received 
from  that  particular  scene  or  view.  In  conveying 

[36] 


Fig.  10.     PORTRAIT  OF  FREDDIE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

his  impressions,  the  artist  makes  use  of  the  phy- 
siological and  instinctive  impressions  conveyed  by 
the  "expression"  of  lines  and  the  shapes  of 
masses,  by  the  modulations  of  tone,  and  by  the 
pleasing  sensations  produced  by  the  harmony  and 
balance  of  the  different  elements  of  the  picture. 

The  photographer  goes  about  his  work  in 
another  way;  his  focusing-screen  shows  the 
scene  complete  in  every  particular,  and  some- 
times the  effect  of  the  picture  is  lost  in  the  elabo- 
ration of  detail.  He  has  to  simplify  the  picture, 
and  to  arrange  and  compose  his  lines  and  masses 
by  a  careful  selection  of  the  point  of  view.  He 
has  to  choose  carefully  the  right  conditions  of 
lighting  and  atmosphere  to  give  the  desired  effect. 

The  lines  in  a  picture  are  of  great  importance 
in  giving  interest,  and  the  sensations  that  may 
be  conveyed  by  lines  alone  are  many  and  varied. 
The  lines  not  only  determine  the  harmony  of  the 
parts,  by  fixing  the  relation  of  spaces  and  the 
forms  of  masses,  but,  by  their  direction,  give  the 
characteristic  impressions  of  repose  or  agitation, 
gaiety  or  gloom,  peace,  grandeur,  etc.  The  sub- 
ject of  the  picture  will  not  express  its  sentiment 
truly  and  adequately  unless  it  is  made  to  do  so 
by  the  language  of  lines. 

Lines  have  expression,  and  by  the  use  of  lines 
alone  we  can  suggest  impressions.  The  expres- 
sion of  horizontal  lines  is  that  of  repose  and  rest- 

[37]    ' 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

fulness;  the  horizontal  lines  of  the  calm  ocean  or 
the  long  low  clouds  of  a  sunset  sky  are  examples 
of  this.  Long  horizontal  lines  must  be  used  spar- 
ingly and  carefully  in  pictures  because  such  lines, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  horizon  line  of 
the  ocean,  act  as  barriers  to  the  vision  in  going 
into  the  picture,  and  thus  a  level  line  continuing 
entirely  across  the  picture  would  tend  to  sepa- 
rate the  parts.  Such  lines  may  well  be  broken 
by  vertical  or  oblique  lines. 

A  vertical  line  suggests  dignity,  strength  and 
stability,  typifying  man,  the  only  animal  that 
stands  upright.  Very  long  vertical  lines  suggest 
grandeur  and  sublimity;  the  spires  of  a  cathedral 
or  tall,  majestic  pine  trees  convey  such  impres- 
sions as  these  in  a  picture. 

That  vertical  lines  suggest  height  and  slender- 
ness,  while  horizontal  lines  increase  the  effect  of 
breadth,  is  a  fact  that  is  made  use  of  by  those  who 
design  fashions,  and  it  is  obvious  that  a  very  short 
and  stout  individual  would  do  well  to  avoid  hori- 
zontal stripes  in  the  clothing.  Vertical  stripes 
would  convey  an  impression  of  height  and  slender- 
ness,  and  would  tend  to  make  a  rather  short  per- 
son look  taller. 

Oblique  lines  suggest  action  and  energy;  they 
are  lines  of  motion  and  lead  the  eye  in  the  direc- 
tion which  they  take  from  the  base-line  of  the 
picture.  The  lines  which  would  exist  in  a  picture 

C38] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

of  a  person  running,  seen  from  the  side,  would  be 
mostly  oblique  lines  leading  the  eye  in  the  direc- 
tion in  which  he  is  going.  Oblique  lines  can  be 
balanced  and  their  energy  reduced  by  the  opposi- 
tion of  lines  inclined  the  other  way. 

That  certain  lines  are  more  pleasing  than  others 
is  well  known,  though  the  reason  for  this  is  not 
so  commonly  recognized.  It  is  partly  physio- 
logical, and  partly  due  to  the  possibility  of  sug- 
gesting emotions  by  means  of  lines.  From  the 
physiological  standpoint,  an  oblique  or  a  curved 
line  is  more  pleasing  than  an  uninterrupted 
straight  line,  either  horizontal  or  vertical,  simply 
because  the  eye  can  follow  the  course  of  such  a 
line  more  easily  and  with  less  muscular  fatigue. 
To  follow  closely  an  uninterrupted  horizontal  or 
vertical  line  puts  undue  strain  on  a  part  of  the 
muscular  system  of  the  eye,  and  the  muscles 
used  in  this  way  easily  become  fatigued,  whereas, 
in  following  the  course  of  a  curve  or  an  oblique 
line,  all  the  eye-muscles  are  used  and  no  one 
particular  set  of  them  is  overworked. 

This  explains  from  an  anatomical  and  practical 
point  of  view  why  it  should  be  regarded  as  a  rule 
of  composition  that  curves  or  oblique  lines  are 
more  desirable  in  a  picture  than  a  single  straight 
horizontal  or  vertical  line,  and  this  leads  to 
another  consideration  in  composition;  variety  of 
line. 

[39] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

By  means  of  variety  in  the  lines  of  a  picture, 
the  muscular  effort  in  viewing  it  is  rendered  less 
fatiguing.  The  concentrated  effort  that  is  needed 
to  follow  carefully  the  course  of  a  single  horizon- 
tal or  vertical  line  is  tiring  because  only  a  few  of 
the  eye-muscles  are  used,  but  variety  is  restful 
because  it  exercises  without  tiring  the  whole 
muscular  system  of  the  eye. 

A  picture  may  well  contain  a  number  of  hori- 
zontal lines  or  a  number  of  vertical  lines,  all 
slightly  different  in  length,  such  as  might  be 
found  in  a  wood  interior  or  in  a  picture  of  shipping 
with  a  number  of  vertical  masts.  This  would 
be  restful  and  pleasing,  because  the  eye  would 
not  concentrate  on  any  one  single  line,  but  would 
shift  from  line  to  line,  noting,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, slight  variations  in  length  and  direction. 
If  in  a  picture  containing  a  number  of  vertical 
lines,  such  as  those  suggested,  there  can  be  intro- 
duced naturally  some  strongly  opposing  line, 
horizontal  or  oblique,  the  variety  thus  obtained 
will  be  physiologically  restful  and  pleasing,  and 
will  help  toward  good  composition.  All  this  goes 
to  show  that  composition,  fundamentally,  is 
based  on  good  common  sense  and  is  governed  by 
distinctly  practical  laws. 

Variety,  then,  is  a  valuable  quality  in  a  picture 
and  can  be  secured  by  introducing  opposing  lines, 
varying  in  direction. 

[40] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

One  of  the  most  pleasingly  varied  arrangements 
of  straight  lines  is  given  by  the  triangle.  Almost 
any  triangular  formation  of  lines,  with  the  possi- 
ble exception  of  a  very  exact  right-angled  tri- 
angle, would  be  a  good  arrangement  in  a  picture, 
because  it  would  satisfy  the  physiological  craving 
for  variety.  A  very  noticeable  and  exact  right 
angle  is  not  good,  because  it  combines  the  phy- 
siological difficulties  of  the  single  horizontal  and 
vertical  lines.  The  effort  required  to  turn  ab- 
ruptly from  the  vertical  to  the  horizontal,  bring- 
ing into  play  a  different  set  of  eye-muscles,  may 
be  rather  disturbing.  A  triangle  suggests  solid- 
ity and  firmness;  it  is  a  form  which  embodies 
physical  stability.  It  is  also  a  good  space-filler, 
for  its  outlines  tend  to  suggest  other  triangular 
shapes  in  conjunction  with  the  edges  of  the 
picture. 

This  is  exemplified  in  the  portrait  of  Arthur, 
Fig.  3,  in  which  the  triangles  formed  by  the 
entire  figure,  a  smaller  triangle  with  the  knee  as 
the  apex,  and  the  secondary  triangles  formed  by 
the  outlines  of  the  figure  and  the  edges  of  the 
picture,  can  all  be  readily  discerned. 

When  two  lines  form  an  acute  angle  it  is  easy 
to  follow  them  both  at  once,  and  the  gradual 
approach  of  the  lines  near  the  angle  gives  early 
notice  to  the  eye  of  the  coming  reversal  of  direc- 
tion. The  sharp  effort  of  muscular  performance 

[41] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

in  reversing  the  direction  conveys  an  impression 
of  energy  and  action.  That  is  why  the  spires  of 
a  cathedral,  for  instance,  or  tall,  pointed  pine 
trees,  which  form  acute  angles,  are  interesting 
and  artistically  satisfying. 

When  the  angle  formed  by  oblique  lines  is  ob- 
tuse, the  muscular  change  from  one  direction  to 
the  other  at  the  angle  is  performed  slowly  and 
easily,  not  as  sharply  or  as  completely  as  at  an 
acute  angle,  and  this  gives  an  impression  of  easy, 
restful  monotony,  rather  than  of  energy  and 
activity.  The  valleys  between  low  hills  are  often 
in  the  form  of  obtuse  angles,  and  seem  restful 
and  peaceful  when  represented  in  a  picture. 

Such  impressions  as  these,  induced  merely  by 
the  direction  of  the  leading  lines,  are  very  defi- 
nite, though,  often,  our  sense  of  them  is  instinc- 
tive, because  we  do  not  stop  to  reason  the  matter 
out.  Nevertheless  the  impressions  are  definite 
enough  and  important  enough  for  us  to  make 
practical  use  of  them  in  composing  or  selecting 
the  subject  of  the  picture. 

We  can  make  one  impression  counteract 
another,  and  too  many  lines  in  one  direction  can 
be  opposed  and  balanced  by  introducing  lines  in 
another  direction.  That  is  why  a  triangular 
arrangement  is  usually  so  satisfactory,  because 
we  get  interest  and  variety  in  the  lines,  and  one 
balances  another. 

[42] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

In  discussing  lines,  so  far,  we  have  referred  only 
to  straight  lines,  and  have  noted  the  impressions 
conveyed  and  the  emotions  suggested  by  such 
lines  varying  in  direction.  When  we  consider 
curved  lines  as  well,  we  shall  find  that  the  possi- 
bilities are  very  much  increased.  A  curved  line, 
as  a  rule,  will  convey  an  impression  of  beauty 
more  strongly  than  a  straight  line;  a  curve  can 
be  vastly  more  satisfying  and  pleasing  than  a 
tangent. 

From  the  purely  physiological  standpoint  a 
curved  line  is  necessarily  more  soothing  and  rest- 
ful, because,  in  following  the  course  of  a  curved 
line,  the  different  eye-muscles  are  alternately  at 
work  and  in  repose,  and,  therefore,  there  is  little 
strain  or  fatigue. 

Probably  the  most  completely  satisfying  curved 
line  is  the  S-shaped  curve  which  is  known  as 
Hogarth's  "line  of  beauty."  This  line,  in  one  of 
its  many  varieties,  is  often  found  in  nature,  as  in 
the  sinuous  windings  of  a  stream  or  river  or  the 
outlines  of  a  mountain  range,  and  it  is  exempli- 
fied very  frequently  in  the  lines  of  the  human 
figure.  In  Fig.  4  the  S-shaped  curve  starts  in 
the  extreme  lower  left  corner  of  the  picture  and 
is  carried  up  along  the  edge  of  the  surf  and  back 
along  the  top  of  the  rocks  to  the  top  right 
corner.  In  Fig.  5  we  can  trace  this  line,  begin- 
ning in  the  left  hand  top  corner,  around  the  head 

C43] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

and  face  and  up  again  along  the  hand  to  the 
flower.  A  little  interest  and  stimulation  to 
the  imagination  is  afforded  by  a  portion  of  this 
curve  being  trimmed  away  at  the  bottom  of  the 
picture.  The  S-shaped  line  contains  the  gist  of 
balance  and  the  essence  of  grace.  It  may  be 
compared  to  a  tongue  of  flame  that  winds  and 
curves  and  stretches  upwards.  The  S-curve  is 
also  found  in  a  more  angular  form,  more  like  the 
letter  Z.  This,  too,  is  a  good  line.  Both  the  S 
and  the  Z  are  excellent  "space  fillers";  one  is 
the  embodiment  of  grace,  the  other  of  energy. 
The  introduction  of  such  a  line  will  usually  give 
beauty  and  interest  to  a  picture.  A  single  curve 
alone  is  often  beautiful,  but  the  S-shaped  curve 
is  still  more  beautiful  because  of  its  variety  and 
change  in  direction.  Curved  lines  must  be  used 
sparingly,  for  a  picture  made  up  entirely  of  curves 
would  be  weak  and  flabby.  Such  lines  require 
the  association  of  straight  lines  to  develop  their 
full  beauty. 

So  far,  in  dealing  with  lines,  we  have  con- 
sidered only  actual,  structural  lines,  outlines  of 
objects  or  edges  of  tones,  but  there  is  another 
kind  of  line  which  plays  an  important  part  in 
picture-making  of  all  kinds.  This  is  the  line 
which  is  not  actually  expressed,  but  which  is, 
nevertheless,  very  strongly  felt;  the  line  by  which 
the  eye  will  instinctively  connect  prominent  ob- 

[44] 


Fig.  11.    THE  HARLEM  RIVER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

jects,  following  the  shortest  route  between  two 
points,  for  the  eye  will  always  take  the  shortest 
path.  As  an  example  of  this  powerfully  felt,  yet 
wholly  imaginary,  line,  we  may  consider  the  face 
and  hands  in  the  portrait  of  a  person  dressed  in 
dark  clothing,  and  posed  against  a  dark  back- 
ground, so  that  the  face  and  hands  are  the  only 
light  accents  in  the  picture  (Fig.  6).  We  shall 
find  that  the  eye  will  instinctively  and  instantly 
connect  these  three  light  spots,  and  we  shall 
almost  see  a  line  going  from  one  to  the  other. 
This  often  gives  a  suggestion  of  a  triangular  line- 
arrangement,  and  the  influence  of  the  unseen  line 
may  be  utilized  with  advantage  in  forming  a  good 
line-arrangement  in  portraits  and  figure  studies. 

In  landscape  work  such  a  suggested  line  may 
frequently  be  used  with  good  effect.  The  tops  of 
a  row  of  trees  may  suggest  a  line.  A  number  of 
boats,  small  objects  or  figures  in  a  landscape  may 
be  so  grouped  that  a  line  connecting  them  will  be 
pleasing  and  important  in  the  composition  of  the 
picture. 

Natural  objects,  plants,  and  flowers  all  exemp- 
lify this  suggested  line  to  a  marked  degree.  The 
eye  notes  at  once  that  a  circle  will  touch  the  ex- 
tended petals  of  a  sunflower,  and  that  the  outer 
points  of  the  compound  leaf  of  the  white  ash 
would  lie  on  an  ellipse.  It  is  the  powerful  influ- 
ence of  these  imaginary  lines  which  makes  the 

£45] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

proper  placing  of  accents  so  important  in  pictures. 
Even  the  smallest  objects,  such  as  birds  flying  in 
the  air,  or  pebbles  or  rocks  on  the  sea  shore, 
might  influence  the  direction  of  such  a  line.  The 
roofs  of  distant  buildings,  the  heads  of  a  group  of 
people,  innumerable  apparently  unimportant  ob- 
jects, must  be  considered  with  regard  to  this 
influence. 

Balance  is  a  word  often  used  in  connection  with 
pictorial  composition,  so  let  us  try  and  find  out 
what  it  means.  Balance  implies  two  forces  act- 
ing on  a  fulcrum,  and  Mr.  Henry  R.  Poore,  in 
his  well-known  book,  Pictorial  Composition,  com- 
pares pictorial  balance  with  the  mechanical  bal- 
ance of  the  steelyard,  where  a  heavy  load  on  the 
short  arm  balances  a  lighter  load  on  the  longer 
arm.  This  is  a  perfectly  practical  and  convinc- 
ing mechanical  principle. 

Now,  if  we  have  the  sole  object  of  interest  in 
our  picture  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  picture- 
space,  we  get  no  balance  at  all.  The  eye  rests 
on  this  central  object  and  gets  no  relief,  so  that 
we  soon  feel  a  strain,  and  experience  a  desire  to 
look  away  from  the  picture.  If  we  introduce 
into  the  picture-space  one  or  more  objects  of 
subordinate  interest,  the  eye  can  get  relief  and 
rest  by  passing  from  the  main  object  of  interest 
to  the  secondary  objects,  and  back  in  various 
directions  to  the  principal  interest. 

[46] 


Fig.  12.     STARTING  OUT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  main  object  of  interest  should  not  be  in 
the  exact  centre  of  the  picture-space,  because 
that  is  where  we  imagine  the  fulcrum  of  the 
steelyard  balance  to  be.  In  accordance  with 
the  principle  stated  above,  an  important  object 
near  the  fulcrum  is  balanced  by  a  smaller  and 
less  important  object  on  the  longer  arm  of  the 
steelyard,  that  is  to  say,  farther  from  the  centre, 
and  the  mechanical  balance  gives  a  perfectly  sat- 
isfying pictorial  balance.  An  object  exactly  at 
the  centre  cannot  be  balanced  by  any  other 
object  at  any  distance.  It  must,  then,  stand  alone 
in  the  exact  centre,  which  is  rarely  satisfying,  or 
else  take  its  proper  place  at  a  proper  distance  to 
effect  a  balance  with  its  subordinate  interests. 

The  main  object  of  interest  in  a  picture  can  be 
made  evident  by  lines  leading  to  it,  or  by  being 
prominent  in  tone,  that  is  to  say,  by  being  dis- 
tinctly lighter  or  darker  in  tone  than  other  parts 
of  the  picture.  Sometimes  the  important  object 
in  a  picture  is  strongly  emphasized  by  placing  a 
light  tone  and  a  dark  tone  close  together.  In  a 
well-composed  picture  the  eye  should  at  once  be 
strongly  attracted  to  some  spot  of  predominat- 
ing interest,  but  should  be  able  to  get  relaxation 
and  relief  by  passing  on  to  other,  less  important, 
points.  If  there  is  in  the  picture  another  object 
or  point  of  equal  importance,  the  balance  will  be 
destroyed,  because  there  will  be  competition  in- 

[47] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

stead  of  harmony,  and  the  eye  will  jump  from 
one  object  to  the  other  in  the  effort  to  decide 
which  is  really  the  stronger. 

Fig.  7  is  an  example  of  balance  and  emphasis 
obtained  by  contrast  in  tones.  The  boy's  white 
waist  stands  out  prominently  against  the  darker 
tone  of  the  water,  and  it  attracts  the  eye  by 
being  the  only  light  spot  in  the  picture  with  the 
exception  of  the  sailboat,  which  is  the  secondary 
and  balancing  object  demanded  by  the  mechan- 
ical balance  of  the  steelyard.  This  small  object 
balances  the  larger  and  more  important  object 
very  satisfactorily. 

On  the  principle  of  the  steelyard,  only  a  very 
small  and  comparatively  unimportant  object  is 
needed,  at  a  distance  from  the  fulcrum,  to  bal- 
ance a  large  and  important  object  nearer  this 
point.  Too  many  lines  and  too  many  objects  of 
equal  importance  in  a  picture  will  cause  confusion, 
discomfort  and  eye-strain.  Sunlight  seen  through 
foliage,  for  instance,  making  a  number  of  bright 
spots,  is  irritating  and  uncomfortable,  and  is, 
therefore,  not  conducive  to  good  composition. 
A  landscape  picture  showing  two  roads  or  paths 
of  equal  or  nearly  equal  importance,  branching  off 
in  different  directions,  would  not  be  a  well  com- 
posed picture.  The  usual  remedy  in  such  a  case 
is  to  cut  the  picture  in  two,  giving  a  road  to  each 
part. 

[48] 


Fig.  13.     PLUM  ISLAND 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

Probably  the  most  important  consideration  in 
dealing  with  pictures  made  with  a  camera  is  that 
of  tones,  for  photography  is  preeminently  the 
medium  by  which  we  can  render  tones.  Every 
means  of  pictorial  representation  has  its  own 
peculiar  characteristics,  and  an  artist  will  use  the 
medium  best  suited  to  the  effect  which  he  wants. 
Oil  and  water-color  painting  each  have  their  own 
individual  and  distinctly  different  qualities;  one 
is  rich  and  oily,  the  other  delicate  and  luminous. 
A  wash  drawing  has  characteristics  that  differen- 
tiate it  from  a  pencil  or  charcoal  sketch.  Each 
different  medium  is  recognized  as  having  some 
special  quality.  So  photography,  having  a  place 
among  artistic  processes,  has  its  own  distinguish- 
ing quality  which  cannot  be  duplicated  by  any 
other  medium.  To  know  what  this  quality  is, 
and  how  it  can  be  controlled,  is  a  necessary  part 
of  the  pictorial  photographer's  technical  training. 

It  may  help  to  make  clear  what  has  just  been 
stated  with  regard  to  the  characteristics  of  differ- 
ent mediums  by  which  pictures  can  be  produced, 
if  we  compare  picture-making  with  music.  There 
are  many  distinctly  different  musical  instruments, 
just  as  there  are  many  distinctly  different  methods 
of  making  pictures.  Each  instrument  has  virtues 
and  limitations  peculiar  to  itself,  and  we  cannot 
successfully  imitate  one  instrument  on  another. 
We  cannot  make  a  piano  sound  like  a  violin,  and 

[49] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

similarly  we  cannot  make  a  charcoal  sketch  look 
like  an  oil  painting,  or  a  photograph  look  like  a 
pencil  drawing.  If  a  photograph  looks  like  some- 
thing else,  it  is  not  a  good  photograph,  and  the 
artist  has  not  made  the  most  of  the  virtues  of 
photography.  Sometimes  there  may  be  a  super- 
ficial resemblance.  For  instance,  a  delicate  plati- 
num print  or  a  bromide  in  a  high  key,  such  as 
Will  Cadby's  child  studies,  might  resemble  a 
silver-point  or  a  wash  drawing,  but  it  would 
be  a  wonderfully  good  wash  drawing  that  could 
imitate  the  infinitely  delicate  and  subtle  tone- 
gradations  of  photography.  To  set  out  delib- 
erately to  imitate  some  other  medium  is  decidedly 
unsatisfactory  and  futile.  That  is  why  I  think  it 
is  a  mistake  for  a  photographer  to  make  a  print 
in  one  of  the  pigment  processes,  oil,  bromoil  or 
gum-bichromate,  and  exercise  personal  control 
with  the  idea  of  making  his  print  look  like  a 
painting.  If  he  is  very  clever,  he  might  get  an 
exceedingly  interesting  result,  but  it  would  be 
neither  one  thing  nor  the  other,  not  a  painting, 
for  it  would  lack  most  of  the  characteristics  ot  a 
painting,  and  not  a  photograph,  for  the  personal 
control  would  have  destroyed  the  photographic 
quality.  I  believe  that  a  gum-print  that  is  allowed 
to  develop  automatically  is  capable  of  showing 
photographic  quality,  but  when  the  artist  at- 
tempts to  control  the  picture  by  brushing  away 

[50] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

highlights  and  by  squirting  water  over  the  print, 
he  usually  destroys  the  very  thing  that  makes 
the  photograph  worthy  of  serious  consideration 
as  a  work  of  art.  When  the  artist  has  grasped  the 
fact  that  photography  has  a  distinguishing  and 
characteristic  quality  of  its  own,  and  when  he 
desires,  as  an  artist  should,  to  utilize  this  quality 
and  make  the  most  of  it,  I  believe  he  will  modify 
his  methods  in  making  pigment  prints.  This  is 
an  important  point  and  should  be  understood 
from  the  beginning. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  the  characteristic 
quality  of  photography  is  the  facility  with  which 
it  can  render  fine  detail  with  amazing  accuracy, 
but  this  is  not  strictly  true,  for  the  ability  to  re- 
produce fine  detail  is  the  distinguishing  quality  of 
a  fine  lens  rather  than  of  photography  in  general. 
A  photograph  can  be  made  with  an  unconnected 
lens,  or  with  no  lens  at  all  by  making  an  exposure 
through  a  fine  needle-hole  in  a  thin  metal  disc, 
and  the  result  may  be  a  picture  showing  the  char- 
acteristic virtue  of  photography,  the  rendering  of 
infinitely  delicate  gradations  of  tone.  This  is 
where  photography  stands  alone,  and  this  is  the 
distinguishing  quality  which  has  given  it  a  place 
among  the  fine  arts.  Therefore  an  artist  who  has 
selected  photography  as  the  medium  in  which  to 
express  his  ideas  should  make  the  most  of  this 
quality,  and  not  try  to  make  a  poor  imitation  of 

[51] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

something  else.  The  drawing  of  fine  detail  and 
the  drawing  of  infinitely  delicate  tone  gradations 
are  not  exactly  the  same,  though  one  depends 
upon  the  other.  The  lens  could  not  render  fine 
detail  if  the  dry  plate  were  not  capable  of  register- 
ing a  long  range  of  tones  and  delicate  gradations. 
Strictly  speaking,  what  we  see  when  we  look  at 
an  object  is  the  light  it  reflects,  rather  than  the 
object  itself.  If  there  were  no  light  we  could  not 
see  the  object,  though  we  might  perceive  it  by  the 
sense  of  touch.  The  lens  "sees"  things  in  very 
much  the  same  way  as  the  eye,  and  the  light  re- 
flected in  varying  degrees  of  intensity  is  what  the 
lens  transmits  to  the  sensitive  plate  or  film.  What 
we  mistake  for  the  ability  of  the  lens  to  render 
fine  detail  is  the  ability  of  the  sensitive  emulsion 
on  the  dry  plate  or  film  to  differentiate  and  re- 
produce exceedingly  minute  variations  in  the 
strength  of  the  reflected  light  transmitted  to  it 
by  the  lens.  The  lens  draws  fine  shading  rather 
than  fine  detail,  and  the  sensitive  emulsion,  pro- 
vided the  exposure  and  development  are  correct, 
can  register  fine  shading  in  the  negative.  So  it  is 
more  correct  to  say  that  the  characteristic  quality 
of  photography,  the  distinguishing  virtue  which 
differentiates  it  from  all  other  methods  of  pictorial 
representation,  is  its  power  to  draw  shading  and 
to  reproduce  infinitely  delicate  gradations  of  tone, 
rather  than  the  ability  to  render  fine  detail,  for 

[52] 


Fig.  11.     PORTRAIT  OF  A.  M.,  JR. 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

this  is  within  the  scope  of  whatever  kind  of  a 
lens  is  used,  whether  it  is  an  uncorrected  lens  or  a 
fine  anastigmat,  and  is  equally  so  when  the  ex- 
posure is  made  through  a  needle-hole  instead  of 
a  lens. 

As  soon  as  we  accept  this  as  a  postulate  and 
recognize  the  fact  that  a  good  and  characteristic 
photograph  is  one  that  shows  good  tones  rather 
than  one  that  shows  fine  detail,  we  shall  see  why 
photography  may  rightly  claim  to  be  classed 
among  the  fine  arts  and  why  it  may  be  regarded 
as  a  medium  of  self-expression.  It  is  quite  possi- 
ble to  have  both  good  tones  and  fine  detail  in  a 
photograph,  and  such  a  photograph  may  well 
be  considered  a  picture.  It  is  possible  also  to 
make  a  photograph  showing  good  tones,  but 
with  broad  masses  instead  of  fine  detail,  and  such 
a  photograph  might  also  claim  recognition  as  a 
picture.  The  drawing  of  fine  detail  is  a  mechani- 
cal quality,  governed  entirely  by  the  amount  of 
time  and  trouble  expended  by  the  optician  in 
making  the  lens,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
drawing  of  fine  detail  is  a  quality  that  the  pictorial 
photographer  sometimes  has  no  use  for.  Fre- 
quently this  quality  in  a  lens  which  makes  its 
construction  very  expensive  is  a  nuisance.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  drawing  of  shading  and  tone- 
gradations  is  a  quality  which  can  be  controlled  by 
the  photographer,  and  whether  or  not  the  tones 

[53] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

in  his  picture  are  good  depends  upon  his  technical 
skill  and  on  his  artistic  judgment.  The  artist 
can  take  some  credit  to  himself  for  good  tones, 
but  for  fine  detail  he  must  give  credit  to  the 
optician  who  made  his  lens.  Anyone  with  a  little 
practice  and  a  high-grade  lens  can  get  fine  detail 
in  a  picture,  but  it  takes  an  artist  and,  moreover, 
an  artist  with  considerable  technical  skill  and 
experience  to  get  good  tones.  There  are  so  many 
chances  for  error  that  only  an  unerring  judgment, 
cultivated  by  long  experience,  and  much  tech- 
nical knowledge  can  overcome  the  inherent  ten- 
dency of  the  photographic  plate  or  film  to  render 
tones  incorrectly.  Errors  in  exposure  and  de- 
velopment, or  lack  of  orthochromatism  in  the 
plate  or  film,  will  upset  the  tones.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  a  photograph  might  show  a  lot  of 
fine  detail,  while  at  the  same  time  the  tones  might 
be  all  wrong. 

But,  what  are  tones?  What  we  call  tones  in  a 
picture  are  the  shades  of  light  and  dark  which 
represent  the  contrasts  of  reflected  light  and  the 
color  values  of  the  objects  photographed.  The 
relation  of  these  tones  to  one  another  varies 
according  to  the  strength  of  the  light  by  which 
the  objects  are  illuminated.  An  outdoor  scene 
would  vary  very  much  in  regard  to  its  contrasts 
of  light  and  dark  and  its  color  values,  according 
to  the  strength,  direction  and  quality  of  the 

[54] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

light.  In  bright  sunlight  the  contrasts  would  be 
stronger  and  the  colors  brighter  than  on  a  dull 
day,  and  the  problem  is  to  reproduce  these  con- 
trasts of  light  and  shade  and  these  color  values 
as  varying  tones  of  monochrome,  so  that  they 
will  truthfully  convey  the  desired  impressions. 
Where  light  falls  on  an  object  and  is  reflected 
back  to  the  eye,  we  see  a  highlight;  where  it 
strikes  at  an  angle  and  is  reflected  back  other 
than  directly  to  the  eye  we  see  halftones;  where 
no  direct  light  falls  on  the  object  we  have 
shadows:  and  these  highlights,  halftones  and 
shadows  are  modified  by  light  reflected  into 
them  by  other  objects  and  by  other  parts  of  the 
same  object.  The  lens  can  see  light-contrasts, 
highlights,  halftones  and  shadows  in  just  the 
same  way  as  the  eye,  but  in  many  subjects  there 
is  too  long  a  range  of  tones,  too  much  contrast 
between  the  lightest  and  the  darkest  tones,  for 
us  to  be  able  to  get  them  all  in  the  picture;  and 
when  it  comes  to  the  reproduction  of  color  values, 
unless  proper  precautions  are  taken,  the  plate  or 
film  will  reproduce  them  all  wrong.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  difference  between  the  actual  tones 
in  the  subject  and  an  artistically  correct  and 
pleasing  representation  of  the  tones  in  a  picture, 
and  we  are  very  much  handicapped  by  the  fact 
that  a  photographic  print  can  give  only  a  com- 
paratively short  range  of  tone  gradations.  We 

[55] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

can  get  a  far  greater  range  of  tones  in  a  negative 
than  it  is  possible  to  reproduce  by  any  method 
of  printing  on  paper.  Anyone  who  has  had  any 
experience  in  printing  on  developing-out  papers 
will  have  noticed  this.  If  we  have  a  negative 
with  a  long  range  of  tones  and  try  to  print  it 
on  this  medium,  we  have  to  sacrifice  some  of  the 
tones;  if  we  print  for  the  highlights,  our  shadows 
will  be  black  and  solid,  while  if  we  print  for  the 
shadows,  the  highlights  will  be  harsh  and  lack- 
ing in  gradation.  Platinum  papers  have  a  longer 
range,  with  carbon  tissue  coming  next,  but  no 
method  of  printing  yet  available  will  give  as  long 
a  scale  as  it  is  possible  to  secure  in  a  negative  on 
a  double-coated  plate.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary 
for  the  pictorial  photographer  to  recognize  this 
fact,  and  to  keep  the  range  of  tones  in  the  nega- 
tive within  the  limits  of  the  printing  medium  he 
intends  to  use. 

In  a  picture  on  paper  we  have  a  certain  scale 
or  range  of  tones,  the  lightest  being  the  paper 
itself  and  the  darkest  being  the  blackest  deposit 
of  platinum  or  silver  that  our  paper  will  give. 
Between  these  two  extremes  we  have  a  number 
of  varying  shades  or  intermediate  tones.  In  a 
photographic  print  these  intermediate  shades  — 
let  us  call  them  halftones  —  are  what  we  use  to 
compose  the  picture,  and  our  scale  of  halftones 
is  limited  by  the  printing  process  hi  just  the  same 

[56] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

way  as  the  tones  and  semitones  of  the  composer 
of  music  are  limited  by  the  instrument  for 
which  he  is  writing.  A  piano  has  seven  and  a 
half  octaves,  and,  therefore,  a  composer  of  music 
for  the  piano  has  a  greater  range  of  available 
notes  than  a  writer  of  songs  for  the  human  voice. 
It  is  seldom  that  a  composer  uses  the  entire 
range  of  tones  when  composing  music  for  the 
piano,  and  in  writing  songs  he  has  to  adjust  the 
scale  of  tones  to  suit  the  voice.  In  writing  for  a 
bass  singer  he  uses  low  notes,  while  for  a  colora- 
tura soprano  he  avails  himself  of  the  singer's 
ability  to  reach  high  notes.  Songs,  like  pictures, 
are  in  different  keys.  The  tones  in  a  picture 
are  not  arranged  in  a  definite  sequence  like  the 
tones  and  semitones  on  a  piano.  They  might 
better  be  compared  to  the  slur  of  tones  possible 
on  a  violin. 

Very  closely  connected  with  the  matter  of 
tones  is  the  question  of  "keys,"  for  the  key  of  a 
picture  is  determined  by  the  predominant  tones. 
If  the  picture  is  composed  mostly  of  light  tones 
with,  possibly,  only  a  small  touch  of  dark  to  give 
it  strength,  it  is  said  to  be  in  a  high  key;  If  dark 
tones  predominate,  with  or  without  a  light  accent, 
it  is  in  a  low  key.  Will  Cadby's  characteristic 
child  studies  are  usually  in  a  high  key.  Every- 
thing is  light  in  tone,  white  dress  against  a  white 
background,  with  a  darker  accent  in  the  eyes 

[57] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

and  hair.  A  photograph  taken  at  night  which  is 
all  in  dark  tones  except  a  lamp  or  two,  would  be 
an  example  of  a  picture  in  a  low  key.  It  is  sel- 
dom that  the  whole  possible  range  of  tones  is 
used  in  a  picture,  even  though  in  some  printing 
mediums  the  range  is  limited.  Frequently  most 
effective  pictures  can  be  composed  of  only  a  very 
few  tones,  and  usually  the  artist  should  be  spar- 
ing in  the  use  of  the  extremes  of  black  and  white. 
The  darkest  shadows  should  show  some  detail, 
and  there  should  be  gradations  in  the  highlights. 
When  we  take  pictures  by  moonlight  or  by  arti- 
ficial light  we  may  make  our  shadows  black,  solid 
and  empty,  but  shadows  in  daylight  are  very 
seldom  devoid  of  all  detail. 

While  it  is  true  that  a  photograph  cannot  re- 
produce the  same  range  of  tones  as  is  seen  in 
nature,  and  cannot  reproduce  light  and  shade  as 
strongly  contrasted  as  in  actuality,  it  is  possible 
to  reproduce  the  tones  in  the  same  relative  propor- 
tion. The  actual  highlights  in  the  subject  must 
be  highlights  in  the  picture,  and  anything  that 
is  really  lower  in  tone  than  this  actual  highlight 
must  be  lower  in  tone  in  the  print.  Suppose  we 
are  photographing  a  landscape  in  which  there  is 
a  barn  painted  white,  or  a  whitewashed  wall. 
If  the  sun  is  shining  and  there  are  no  clouds  in 
the  blue  sky,  the  sunlight  on  the  white  barn  or 
whitewashed  wall  will  make  it  look  a  good  deal 

£58] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

lighter  in  tone  than  the  blue  sky.  So,  if  the  sky 
in  the  picture  were  white  and  the  barn  or  wall 
were  also  white,  the  tones  would  be  wrongly 
reproduced  and  the  picture  would  give  a  wrong 
impression.  If  we  are  making  a  portrait  of  a 
man  wearing  a  white  collar,  the  lightest  portions 
of  the  subject  will  be  the  highlight  on  the  collar 
and  possibly  the  catchlights  in  the  eyes  and,  if 
they  were  showing,  the  highlights  on  the  teeth. 
These  are  the  only  parts  that  could  correctly  be 
reproduced  as  white  in  the  photograph.  The 
flesh  tones,  even  the  highlights  on  the  skin,  would 
be  lower  in  tone  than  the  highlights  on  the  glazed 
white  collar,  so  that  if  any  part  of  the  face  were 
as  light  in  the  picture  as  the  light  part  of  the 
collar,  the  tones  would  not  be  true. 

So,  even  if  our  range  of  tones  is  shorter  and 
we  have  to  compress  the  tones  into  a  shorter 
scale,  we  can  preserve  truth  of  value  only  by 
keeping  the  tones  in  about  the  same  relative 
proportions.  We  should  make  our  lightest  tone 
light  and  our  darkest  tone  dark,  and  then  get  in 
as  many  tones  as  we  can  in  between. 

In  Fig.  8  there  is  "tone"  in  the  face.  The 
only  parts  of  this  picture  that  are  actually  white 
are  the  light  spots  in  the  eyes  and  the  highlights 
on  the  teeth.  The  face  looks  white,  that  is  to 
say,  there  is  no  suggestion  of  any  racial  color, 
yet,  in  reality,  it  is  not  absolutely  white. 

[39  ] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

The  question  of  correct  tone-rendering  is  not 
always  a  matter  of  simple  contrasts  of  light  and 
shadow.  Usually  we  have  to  deal  also  with  color 
contrasts,  which  makes  it  rather  more  compli- 
cated. For  the  present,  however,  we  will  ignore 
the  question  of  color,  and  will  take  it  up  later 
when  we  are  dealing  with  orthochromatic  pho- 
tography. 

Practically  speaking,  the  securing  of  true  tones 
in  a  photograph  depends  entirely  upon  the  ex- 
posure. Development  has  very  little  to  do  with 
it.  Development  determines  only  the  key,  and, 
by  varying  the  time  of  development,  we  are 
enabled  to  lengthen  or  shorten  a  little  the  range 
of  tones,  and  thus  can  adapt  the  negative  to  the 
printing  process  we  intend  to  use.  The  correct- 
ness or  incorrectness  of  the  tones  depends  en- 
tirely upon  the  exposure.  A.  J.  Anderson  says: 
"Expose  for  the  tones  that  are  most  desired." 
If  light  tones  predominate  in  the  subject  and  are 
what  we  desire  to  reproduce  in  our  picture,  we 
must  adjust  the  exposure  to  give  gradation  and 
quality  in  these  light  tones.  If  we  want  shadows, 
we  must  expose  for  shadows.  Overexposure  will 
tend  to  block  up  the  highlights  and  underexposure 
will  give  empty  shadows  without  detail  or  grada- 
tion. Correct  exposure  will  give  the  maximum 
gradation  in  both  highlights  and  shadows.  It  is 
here  that  the  artist  can  control  his  results  and 

[60] 


Fig.  15.     PORTRAIT  OF  L.  W. 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

make  the  medium  interpretative  of  his  own  per- 
sonality. He  alone  is  responsible  for  the  tones 
in  his  picture,  and  in  order  to  render  them  cor- 
rectly he  has  to  learn,  first  of  all,  to  see  them  in 
the  subject  and  then  to  reproduce  them  correctly. 
The  tones  in  the  subject,  especially  in  the 
most  distant  planes,  are  affected  to  a  large  extent 
by  the  atmosphere,  which  tends  to  make  light 
objects  at  a  distance  appear  darker  and  dark 
objects  lighter,  so  much  so  that  under  some  con- 
ditions a  dark  object  and  a  light  object  might 
appear  to  be  of  the  same  tone.  This  and  other 
matters  relating  to  tones  will  be  dealt  with  more 
fully  in  the  chapter  dealing  with  orthochromatism. 


CHAPTER  III 

Mass  —  Notan  —  Breadth  —  Pictorial  Balance  —  The  Uncor- 
rected  Lens  for  Pictorial  Work  —  Accent  —  Figures  in 
Landscapes  —  Genre. 

WHEN  the  surface  of  the  picture-space  is 
cut  by  lines  into  various  shapes  and  areas, 
this  is  described  as  "spacing."  The  various 
shapes  and  areas,  which  may  be  light  or  dark  in 
tone  or  of  an  intermediate  shade,  are  called 
masses.  The  masses,  together  with  spacing, 
govern,  to  a  great  extent,  the  pattern  or  design 
of  the  picture.  It  is  the  important  masses  that 
we  see  when  we  look  at  a  picture  through  half- 
closed  eyes,  which  is  often  done  with  the  idea  of 
eliminating  detail,  so  that  we  can  more  clearly 
appreciate  the  pattern.  If  the  masses  are  good, 
and  form,  in  themselves,  a  pleasing  and  satisfy- 
ing design,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  composition, 
as  far  as  masses  are  concerned,  is  satisfactory. 

The  massing  of  a  picture  is  what  we  first  notice. 
If  it  interests  us  at  a  first  glance,  it  makes  us 
anxious  to  investigate  further  and  give  the  pic- 
ture more  careful  inspection.  The  masses  are 
what  attract  attention  when  looking  at  a  picture 
from  a  distance,  too  far  off  to  be  able  to  distin- 
guish details  or  even,  perhaps,  to  make  out  just 

[62] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

what  the  subject  of  the  picture  may  be.  It  is 
interesting  when  we  go  into  an  exhibition  room 
where  there  are  paintings  or  photographs,  to  stand 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  glancing  around  casu- 
ally at  the  pictures.  Those  with  strong  and  inter- 
esting masses  will  stand  out  from  the  rest;  they 
will  attract  attention  and  create  a  desire  for 
closer  study.  Good  masses  will  give  a  favorable 
first  impression. 

The  desire  to  attract  attention  and  make  the 
picture  noticeable,  so  that  it  will  stand  out  among 
others,  is  often  shown  by  making  the  picture  very 
large  and  by  placing  it  on  a  large  mount,  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  good  masses  and  an  attractive 
pattern  are  not  in  any  way  dependent  upon  size, 
and  mere  size  will  not  make  a  picture  attractive 
unless  the  masses  are  good  and  are  well  balanced. 
Even  a  small  picture  may  be  very  strong,  and 
may  stand  out  among  larger  ones,  if  the  masses 
are  striking  and  attractive.  Fig.  9  is  a  small 
picture,  and  a  contact  platinum  print,  3Jx4J, 
is  almost  insignificant  by  the  side  of  a  20x24 
gum  print,  yet  such  a  print  proved  to  be  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  be  accepted  and  hung  at  the 
London  Salon  in  1912.  The  strength  of  masses 
depends  upon  their  own  inherent  qualities  rather 
than  upon  their  size,  and  they  gain  in  strength 
and  effectiveness  by  being  very  simple  and  by 
forming  a  simple,  yet  pleasing,  design. 

[63] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

To  describe  the  pattern  or  decorative  aspect 
created  by  the  disposition  of  the  masses  of  a 
picture,  Arthur  Dow  suggests  the  word  "Notan," 
which  is  a  term  used  by  the  Japanese  to  signify 
an  arrangement  of  light  and  dark.  In  his 
book,  Composition,  Mr.  Dow  writes:  "To  attain 
an  appreciation  of  Notan,  and  the  power  to 
create  it,  the  following  fundamental  fact  must  be 
understood,  namely,  that  a  placing  together  of 
masses  of  light  and  dark,  synthetically  related, 
conveys  to  the  eye  an  impression  of  beauty  en- 
tirely independent  of  meaning.  For  example, 
squares  of  dark  porphyry  against  squares  of  light 
marble,  checks  in  printed  cloth,  and  the  blotty 
ink  sketches  by  the  Venetians,  the  Dutch  and  the 
Japanese.  When  this  occurs  accidentally  in  na- 
ture, as  in  the  case  of  a  grove  of  dark  trees  against 
a  light  hillside,  or  a  pile  of  dark  buildings  against 
a  twilight  sky,  we  at  once  perceive  its  beauty, 
and  say  that  the  scene  is  'picturesque/  This 
quality  which  makes  the  natural  scene  a  good 
subject  for  a  picture,  is  analogous  to  music. 
Truthful  drawing  and  'conscientiousness'  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  an  artist's  rendering  of 
this.  This  is  the  kind  of  'visual  music'  which 
the  Japanese  so  love  in  the  rough  ink  painting  of 
their  old  masters  where  there  is  but  a  mere  hint 
of  facts." 

Notan  determines  the  pictorial  balance  of  a 

[64: 


Fig.  16.     THE  EXPLORERS 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

picture,  not  so  much  the  mechanical  steelyard 
balance  of  objects  or  accents,  as  balance  in  a 
larger  aspect,  the  balance  of  design.  For  the 
pattern  of  a  picture,  to  be  agreeable,  must  be 
well  balanced;  it  must  not  be  topheavy,  or  too 
large  or  too  small  for  the  space  it  fills.  Whether 
or  not  the  pattern  is  well  balanced  can  be  decided 
only  by  cultivated  good  taste  and  judgment. 
Some  of  Francis  Libby's  gum  prints  are  good 
examples  of  bold  and  effective  massing,  and  Wil- 
bur H.  Porterfield's  work  shows  that  he  has  a 
keen  appreciation  of  notan  as  well  as  the  decora- 
tive line.  The  pictures  of  both  these  artists  are 
simple,  strong  and  attractive.  Good  examples  of 
Japanese  art  might  well  be  studied  for  the  appre- 
ciation of  notan  and  the  skilful  placing  of 
accents. 

The  picture-space  should  be  filled,  but  need 
not  be  crowded,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  judging  balance,  not  only  the  masses  of  the 
subject,  but  also  the  shapes  of  the  area  remaining 
after  being  cut  into  by  the  outlines  of  these 
masses,  have  a  bearing  on  the  general  design  of 
the  picture. 

A  mass  may  be  light  or  dark  in  tone.  Some- 
times the  striking  masses  are  in  light  tones  against 
dark.  A  nude  figure  or  one  dressed  in  white  might 
form  a  light  mass  against  a  dark  background.  In 
the  portrait  of  Freddie,  Fig.  10,  the  child's  figure 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

forms  a  triangular  light  mass  against  the  dark 
background. 

In  order  properly  to  appreciate  masses  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  eliminate  some  of  the  fine 
detail  in  the  picture,  for  a  very  highly  corrected 
lens  often  will  give  too  much  detail.  In  such 
elaboration  of  detail  the  pattern  of  the  picture  is 
obscured,  the  bigness  and  impressiveness  of  it 
are  lost.  When  we  look  at  a  tree,  we  cannot  and 
do  not  want  to  distinguish  all  the  leaves  in  sight 
or  take  in  at  a  glance  the  labyrinth  of  boughs 
and  twigs.  We  would  rather  have  the  twigs 
and  branches  compose  into  a  general  character 
of  structure  and  direction,  and  the  foliage  into  a 
mass  or  arrangement  of  masses. 

The  best  way  to  subdue  detail  is  by  the  use  of 
a  lens  that  is  so  constructed  that  it  will  not  give 
critically  sharp  definition.  It  can  be  done  by 
making  an  enlargement  which  is  just  a  trifle  out 
of  focus,  by  enlarging  through  bolting-cloth,  and 
so  on,  but  the  most  satisfactory  way  to  get  soft 
definition  is  by  the  use  of  a  soft-focus  lens.  The 
proper  use  of  such  a  lens  will  not  destroy  or 
obliterate  detail,  but  will  render  it  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  take  its  proper  place  in  the  general 
scheme  of  the  picture  and  not  be  too  insistent. 
With  a  soft-focus  lens  properly  used,  a  tree  can 
be  rendered  as  a  decorative  shape  or  mass  instead 
of  as  a  collection  of  innumerable  leaves,  twigs 

[66] 


Fig.  17.     CRESCENT  BEACH,  GLOUCESTER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  branches;  the  texture  of  the  bark  and  foli- 
age (like  the  textures  of  clothing,  etc.,  in  figure 
studies)  can  be  adequately  suggested,  and  the 
eye  will  not  be  distracted  from  the  harmony  of 
the  picture  as  a  whole  by  the  insistent  clamoring 
of  fine  detail  for  microscopic  examination.  This 
massing  of  fine  detail  will  impart  to  a  picture  the 
much  desired  quality  known  as  "breadth."  We 
can  have  some  detail  in  the  masses  and  still  re- 
tain breadth,  provided  the  detail  is  properly  sub- 
dued and  does  not  attract  undue  attention. 

In  advocating  the  use  of  the  uncorrected  lens 
for  pictorial  work,  it  must  not  be  understood  that 
no  other  lens  is  suitable,  for,  after  all,  a  picture 
is  a  picture  and,  no  matter  what  lens  has  been 
used  in  its  production,  the  result  is  what  counts. 
It  is  the  arrangement  or  selection  of  the  subject, 
as  well  as  the  disposition  of  lines,  tones  and 
masses,  which  determines  the  artistic  merit, 
rather  than  the  accidental  charm  of  soft  and 
pleasing  definition.  The  end  in  picture-making 
justifies  the  means,  and  if  the  finished  result  is  a 
picture,  no  one  need  bother  himself  as  to  the 
details  of  its  production. 

I  must  confess,  however,  that  the  uncorrected 
lens  is  a  great  help  and  source  of  inspiration  to 
the  pictorialist.  The  image  seen  on  the  focusing- 
screen  is  so  fascinating  that  there  is  a  keen  satis- 
faction in  seeing  a  bit  of  nature  so  rendered  by 

[67] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

the  lens,  and  a  great  joy  in  striving  adequately 
to  transfer  it  to  the  print.  With  such  a  lens  one 
can  better  suggest  the  vibrant  quality  of  sunlight 
and  render  the  transparent  luminosity  of  shadows, 
I  think,  than  by  any  other  means.  The  lack  of 
hard  edges  and  the  entire  absence  of  that  biting 
hardness  of  definition  that  is  unavoidable  with 
some  lenses  is  just  what  the  picture-maker 
wants.  That  is,  in  fact,  just  what  he  is  striving 
for  when  he  makes  his  enlargements  through 
bolting-cloth,  or  prints  on  a  paper  with  a  very 
rough  surface.  Such  methods  can,  at  best,  be 
regarded  only  as  attempts  to  make  the  best  of  a 
bad  job,  and  if  we  can  get  the  desired  quality  in 
the  original  negative,  it  is  far  better.  But  it 
should  be  real  quality,  not  merely  softness.  There 
is  no  artistic  virtue  in  the  mere  obtaining  of  soft, 
hazy  and  uncertain  definition.  A  picture  is  not 
necessarily  a  picture  because  it  is  blurred  and 
fuzzy,  though  it  may  possibly  be  a  good  picture 
in  spite  of  it. 

When  the  original  negative  is  sharp  all  over 
and  is  softened  by  means  of  bolting-cloth  or  dif- 
fusion in  enlarging,  the  softening  is  carried  out 
to  the  same  degree  all  over  the  picture.  Every 
part  of  the  picture  is  equally  diffused:  fore- 
ground, middle  distance  and  distance  are  all  the 
same;  but  with  a  soft-focus  lens,  properly  used, 
the  softening  need  not  be  universal.  The  fore- 

£68] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

ground,  for  instance,  may  be  more  sharply  fo- 
cused than  the  distance,  and  instead  of  a  picture 
soft  all  over,  with  everything  equally  diffused, 
we  can  have  the  principal  object  standing  out 
clearly  against  a  subdued  but  perfectly  coherent 
background. 

With  a  soft-focus  lens  one  can  make  a  picture 
that  will  "carry"  better  than  one  made  sharp 
and  softened  in  enlarging,  for  the  picture  closes 
up  and  becomes  coherent  at  a  little  distance,  like 
a  good  impressionist  painting. 

In  other  respects,  too,  a  lens  of  this  type  is 
eminently  suitable  for  pictorial  work.  Such  lenses 
as  a  rule  are  very  much  cheaper  than  fully  cor- 
rected anastigmat  lenses  of  the  same  focal  length 
and  speed.  We  shall  see  later,  in  Chapter  IV, 
that  for  pictorial  work  a  long-focus  lens  is  de- 
sirable. Appreciating  this  fact,  the  makers  of 
pictorial  lenses  have  designed  the  mounts  and 
flanges  so  that  the  lenses  shall  be  as  compact 
and  as  light  as  possible,  and  yet  of  sufficiently 
long  focal  length  to  assure  good  drawing  and 
perspective.  With  regard  to  speed,  which  is 
commonly  supposed  to  be  an  advantage  possessed 
by  the  anastigmat  alone,  the  semi-achromatic 
lens  is  not  far  behind.  The  Spencer  Port-Land 
lens  has  an  effective  aperture  of  /:  4.5,  the  Verito 
doublet  works  at  /:  4,  the  Smith  lens  (the  original 
single  lens,  now  known  as  the  Series  1)  usually 

[69] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

works  at  /:  6  and  the  Struss  Pictorial  lens  at 
/:  5.5.  The  new  Smith  Synthetic  lens  works  with- 
out halos  at  /:  5.  For  outdoor  work  such  aper- 
tures are  fully  adequate  for  all  work  likely  to  be 
undertaken  by  a  photographer  who  is  interested 
primarily  in  making  pictures  rather  than  high- 
speed records.  Another  factor  greatly  in  favor 
of  the  uncorrected  lens  is  the  tremendous  amount 
of  control  in  the  quality  of  the  image  that  is 
possible.  Slight  variations  in  focusing  and  in  the 
size  of  the  diaphragm  will  alter  very  materially 
the  quality  of  definition.  This,  combined  with 
the  great  apparent  depth  of  focus  of  such  lenses, 
makes  them  most  satisfactory  instruments  to  use. 
I  say  apparent  depth,  because  such  lenses  are 
governed  by  the  same  inexorable  laws  of  optics 
as  are  other  lenses.  Probably  the  effect  of  depth 
is  due  mainly  to  the  fact  that  there  is  no  sudden 
and  abrupt  change  from  sharpness  to  out-of- 
focusness,  but,  really,  at  times,  it  is  almost  un- 
canny. I  have  a  picture  taken  with  my  single 
Smith  lens  at  Revere  Beach.  In  the  immediate 
foreground  is  a  group  of  boys  playing  on  the  sand. 
These  boys  are  clearly  focused,  and  yet  the  diving- 
raft  and  the  people  on  the  raft,  far  out  in  the 
water,  are  just  as  clearly  defined  as  the  group  in 
the  foreground.  I  have  also  a  surf  study,  made 
with  the  Spencer  lens,  in  which  there  is  a  vessel 
off  on  the  horizon  just  as  clear  as  the  rocks  and 

[70] 


Fig.  18.     THE  PAINTER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

surf  close  at  hand.  An  anastigmat  lens,  of  course, 
will  give  depth  of  focus  when  it  is  stopped  down, 
but  the  semi-achromatic  lens  seems  to  show  re- 
markable depth  at  a  comparatively  large  aperture. 

For  portraits  and  figure  studies  such  lenses  are 
almost  indispensable.  It  is  possible  to  secure 
delightful  textures,  subtle  modeling,  and  round- 
ness with  the  Smith  or  the  Verito  and  other 
similar  lenses.  There  is  no  insistent  and  irritat- 
ing detail,  but  just  the  personality,  the  character 
and  individuality  of  the  subject,  with  the  essen- 
tials emphasized  and  the  unessentials  eliminated. 
When  a  generous  exposure  is  given  and  the  plate 
developed  for  softness  and  shadow  detail,  little 
or  no  retouching  will  be  necessary  on  portrait 
negatives;  in  fact,  handwork  of  any  kind,  how- 
ever skilful,  will  be  apt  to  destroy  the  quality. 

Probably  the  greatest  advantage  of  all  in  the 
use  of  such  lenses  lies  in  the  fact  that  with  them 
real  picture-making  can  be  accomplished,  with- 
out any  need  for  handwork  or  manipulation  of 
any  kind  except  purely  photographic  treatment, 
united  to  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  principles 
of  pictorial  composition.  By  real  picture-making 
I  mean  making  pictures  which  conform  to  the 
ideals  set  up  by  the  leaders  of  modern  pictorial- 
ism,  who  believe  that  a  space  properly  filled  is 
more  of  an  accomplishment  than  the  exact  repro- 
duction of  actual  facts. 

[71] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

Looking  at  things  from  this  point  of  view,  it 
does  not  matter  at  all  what  the  subject  of  the 
picture  may  be,  as  long  as  it  fills  the  picture-space 
harmoniously,  and  makes  an  agreeable  and  well- 
balanced  pattern.  The  treatment  of  the  subject 
is  considered  to  be  more  important  than  the  sub- 
ject itself.  The  late  H.  Snowden  Ward  had  just 
such  an  idea  in  mind  when  he  defined  a  picture 
as  being  "a  thing  beautifully  photographed  rather 
than  a  beautiful  thing  photographed."  Many  of 
our  latter-day  pictorialists  consider  a  picture  to 
have  attained  its  purpose  when  it  is  nothing  more 
than  some  decorative  shapes  or  lines  bounded  by 
a  mount  or  frame,  some  beautifully-shaped  marks 
on  paper.  This  viewpoint  necessitates  the  posses- 
sion of  unusual  ability  to  select  and  arrange  one's 
material,  and  calls  forth  the  artist's  constructive 
instincts  in  the  creation  of  something  which  is 
indicative  of  his  own  personality,  whereas  the 
mechanical  reproduction  of  what  exists  demands 
merely  a  certain  amount  of  skill  and  technique. 

A  semi-achromatic  lens  will  help  greatly  hi 
enabling  one  to  appreciate  the  design  or  pattern  of 
a  subject  rather  than  the  bald  actuality.  With 
it  a  tree  can  be  rendered  as  a  decorative  mass, 
not  as  a  collection  of  twigs  and  branches.  Vari- 
ous small  objects  will  take  their  proper  places  in 
the  picture-scheme  as  spots  and  accents,  light  or 
dark,  and  will  not  by  their  fine  detail  demand  ex- 

[72: 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

animation  and  conjecture  as  to  their  identity. 
They  will  be  merely  spots  and,  as  such,  will  help 
the  general  decorative  arrangement  of  the  picture. 
A  soft-focus  lens  is  an  instrument  that  needs 
to  be  studied  and  experimented  with  to  some 
extent  before  its  full  capabilities  are  discovered, 
and  in  this  study  and  experiment  there  is  much 
joy  for  the  conscientious  artist.  Such  a  lens 
improves  on  acquaintance;  the  more  one  uses 
it,  and  the  more  fully  one  understands  it,  the 
more  one  realizes  that  the  maker  of  it  has  placed 
at  our  disposal  an  ideal  instrument  for  the  work 
in  hand.  Such  control,  such  power  of  personal 
modification  of  the  quality  of  the  image,  have 
never  before  been  accessible  in  making  the  origi- 
nal negative.  Hitherto  one  was  forced  to  get  the 
original  negative  more  or  less  as  the  lens  would 
make  it,  and  depend  upon  subsequent  modifica- 
tions for  the  production  of  pictorial  quality,  but 
now  one  can  control  the  picture  from  the  very 
beginning.  I  am  a  firm  upholder  of  and  a  strong 
believer  in  the  merits  of  the  straight  print,  not 
that  I  disapprove  of  hand  work,  but  because  I 
believe  that  hand  work  carried  too  far  will  tend 
to  destroy  the  very  quality  that  makes  photog- 
raphy worthy  of  being  considered  a  fine  art. 
Personal  control  is  a  different  thing  entirely,  and 
should  be  freely  used  at  every  stage  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  picture,  but  not  the  hand  work  that 

[73] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

consists  in  altering  the  tones  of  a  print  by  brush- 
ing away  highlights  and  gradations,  or  darkening 
shadows  by  means  of  paint  or  pencil  on  the  print 
itself.  Photography,  properly  controlled,  can 
render  tones  better  than  any  other  medium  of 
artistic  expression,  and  personal  control  of  ex- 
posure and  development  will  be  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  get  good  tones  and  truthful  gradations, 
for  the  camera,  properly  guided  and  then  left  to 
do  its  own  job  in  its  own  way,  will  take  care  of 
the  tones  of  a  picture  very  well. 

In  outdoor  work,  a  good  way  to  judge  the 
masses  of  a  picture  before  making  the  exposure, 
is  to  rack  the  lens  in  or  out  a  good  deal,  so  that 
the  image  on  the  focusing  screen  is  entirely  blurred 
and  out  of  focus,  and  all  detail  is  obliterated. 
This  will  leave  only  the  shapes  and  forms  of  the 
masses,  which  can  then  be  studied  purely  on 
their  merits  as  a  pattern,  for  it  will  be  almost 
impossible  to  tell  what  they  represent.  If  this 
study  shows  that  the  notan  is  interesting,  if  the 
masses  are  properly  balanced  and  fill  the  picture 
space  without  appearing  to  be  too  crowded  or 
too  meagre,  if  the  pattern  or  design  is  agreeable, 
that  view  may  be  considered  as  promising  ma- 
terial for  a  picture. 

Broad,  simple  masses  and  long,  flowing  lines 
are  very  desirable  in  pictures,  but  all  pictures  do 
not  contain  large  and  impressive  masses.  Some 

[74] 


Fig.    19.       WlNGAERSHEEK    BEACH 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

may  consist  of  quiet,  restful  tones,  light  or  dark, 
with  only  a  very  small  patch  or  two  of  contrast- 
ing tone.  A  small  but  noticeable  patch  of  con- 
trasting light  or  dark  tone  would  more  correctly 
be  described  as  an  accent  than  as  a  mass,  and  it 
will  be  found  that,  as  a  rule,  an  accent  is  needed 
to  prevent  a  picture  from  becoming  monotonous 
and  uninteresting. 

In  another  chapter  we  refer  to  the  desirability 
of  keeping  the  tones  in  a  picture  quiet  and  simple, 
and  of  avoiding  too  great  contrast  of  light  and 
dark  or  too  long  a  range  of  tones,  but  if  this  is 
carried  to  extremes  the  result  may  be  weakness 
and  monotony.  If  a  picture  is  composed  of  only 
a  few  tones,  a  definite  accent  is  usually  needed  to 
pull  them  together  and  make  the  picture  interest- 
ing. If  the  prevailing  tones  are  dark,  the  accent 
may  well  be  light,  while  if  light  tones  predomi- 
nate in  the  picture,  a  dark  accent  will  be  needed. 
As  examples  of  accent,  light  and  dark,  we  may 
refer  to  The  Harlem  River  (Fig.  11),  in  which  a 
light  accent  is  seen  in  the  puff  of  steam  against 
the  low  tones  of  the  sky,  and  to  Starting  Out  (Fig. 
12),  in  which  we  see  a  dark  accent  in  the  hull  of 
the  sailboat.  Without  such  accents  the  pictures 
would  be  dull,  lifeless,  and  lacking  in  interest. 
Very  often  the  accent  is  used  to  emphasize  the 
main  object  of  interest  in  the  picture.  Some- 
times the  main  object  itself  may  present  suf- 

[75] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

ficient  contrast  to  make  it  stand  out  promi- 
nently from  its  surroundings,  as  is  the  case  in 
Plum  Island  (Fig.  13),  where  the  child,  the  main 
object  of  interest,  is  the  only  dark  accent  in  the 
picture. 

When  the  accent  itself  forms  the  principal  ob- 
ject of  interest  in  the  picture,  as  is  the  case  in 
Fig.  11  and  Fig.  13,  its  position  in  the  picture- 
space  must  be  carefully  considered.  It  will  be 
found,  as  a  general  rule,  that  a  point  about  one- 
third  of  the  width  of  the  picture-space  from  the 
top  or  bottom  of  the  picture,  and  about  one-third 
from  one  side,  will  be  a  strong  position  for  such 
an  accent.  These  points  may  be  found  by  imagin- 
ing that  your  picture-space  is  divided  both  ver- 
tically and  horizontally  into  three  equal  strips  by 
lines  that  will  cross  each  other  at  four  points. 
Each  of  these  four  intersection  points  will  be  a 
strong  position,  and  an  accent  at  any  one  of  these 
points  will  be  well  placed  in  the  picture-space. 
It  will  not  matter  at  all  what  the  shape  of  the 
picture  may  be,  whether  it  be  an  upright  or  a 
horizontal  rectangle,  or  a  square,  these  four 
points,  each  of  them  one-third  of  the  width  of 
the  picture-space  from  top  or  bottom  and  one 
side,  will  be  strong  points.  So,  in  trimming  the 
print,  or  in  arranging  the  picture  on  the  focus- 
ing-screen,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  get  any  promi- 
nent accents  as  near  one  of  these  strong  points 

[76] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

as  possible.  Many  landscape  workers  have  the 
ground  glass  of  the  focusing-screen  ruled  with 
pencil  lines,  as  in  the  diagram,  and  this  is  a  very 


good  idea.  If  it  is  not  possible  to  get  the  accent 
in  the  right  place  in  the  original  negative,  its 
position  can  often  be  modified  by  proper  trim- 
ming of  the  enlargement  or  the  print. 

Sometimes  a  portrait  in  which  there  is  a  com- 
paratively short  range  of  tones  needs  an  accent 
to  pull  the  tones  together  and  make  them  look 
right.  In  Fig.  14,  the  black  necktie  is  needed  to 
prevent  the  flesh  tones  from  looking  too  flat  and 
weak.  Without  this  dark  accent  the  face  would 
look  too  dark  in  tone,  by  reason  of  the  contrast 

[77] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

with  the  light  background.  Cover  up  the  neck- 
tie, and  you  will  see  how  much  the  touch  of  black 
improves  the  picture.  The  same  effect  is  seen  in 
Fig.  15,  in  which  the  light  accent  of  the  white 
collar  helps  to  keep  the  tones  of  the  face  in  their 
right  relation,  and  prevents  the  contrast  with 
the  dark  background  making  the  face  look  too 
white.  A  similar  use  of  such  an  accent  may  be 
observed  in  The  Fair-haired  Boy  (Fig.  24),  and 
in  other  illustrations. 

In  a  landscape  picture,  a  small  figure  care- 
fully placed  in  the  picture  space  may  often  serve 
as  an  accent.  This  is  just  what  has  been  done 
in  Plum  Island.  The  child  in  this  picture  is  not 
merely  an  accent  of  contrasting  tone;  it  is  the 
main  object  of  interest  in  the  picture,  and  gives 
it  the  needed  touch  of  human  interest. 

Whether  figures  shall  or  shall  not  be  included 
in  a  landscape  or  a  marine  picture  depends  en- 
tirely upon  whether  they  are  needed  to  carry  out 
the  idea.  If  they  help  the  picture  to  tell  the  re- 
quired story,  they  should  be  put  in,  and  their 
size  and  importance  should  be  regulated  by  the 
importance  of  the  part  they  play  in  the  composi- 
tion. Mere  size  does  not  always  determine  the 
importance  of  figures  in  a  landscape.  They  may 
be  quite  small,  and  yet  acquire  considerable  im- 
portance by  reason  of  their  placing  in  the  picture- 
space  and  their  contrast  in  tone. 


Fig.  20.     AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  A  STORMY  DAY 


c        f     r     fe     cr«    ^r  c  rrt-  r 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  including  figures  in 
landscape  pictures  are  these:  they  increase  the 
range  of  emotions  that  may  be  expressed  in  the 
picture;  they  help  to  accentuate  the  important 
features;  they  often  provide  the  vertical  or  diago- 
nal line  that  is  needed  to  balance  horizontals  in 
the  landscape;  a  figure  is  sometimes  helpful  in 
suggesting  scale;  and  unusual  height  of  build- 
ings or  trees  may  be  indicated  by  the  compari- 
son with  figures.  In  genre  pictures  figures  are 
nearly  always  needed  to  tell  the  story.  Against 
the  use  of  figures  are  the  facts  that  they  are  some- 
times difficult  to  harmonize  with  a  landscape  as 
regards  form  and  pose,  expression  and  costume, 
and  that  many  emotional  qualities  such  as  wild- 
ness,  ruggedness  or  desolation  are  lost  in  their 
presence  without  the  most  careful  treatment. 
The  artist  must  decide  for  himself  whether  the 
landscape  or  the  figures  can  be  made  the  more 
interesting. 

The  laws  of  principality  and  unity,  harmony 
and  balance,  must  always  be  observed.  The  pic- 
ture should  tell  one  story,  and  only  one.  So,  in 
every  case,  we  must  decide  whether  figures  are 
needed  or  not.  If  we  decide  that  figures  are 
needed;  if  we  decide  that  the  figures  are  more 
interesting  than  the  landscape  and  that  they  are 
to  form  the  main  object  of  interest  in  the  picture, 
we  must  try  to  make  the  landscape  subordinate 

[79] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

to  the  figures,  so  that  it  will  serve  merely  as  a 
setting  and  a  support  for  them.  A  painter,  by 
the  skilful  use  of  color,  can  make  idyllic  pictures 
in  which  a  figure  or  a  group  of  figures  is  not 
the  dominant  thing  in  the  picture,  but  for  a 
photographer  this  is  more  difficult.  When  there 
is  only  one  figure  and  it  is  intended  to  be  the 
dominant  item,  it  should  be  placed  in  the  picture 
space  in  accordance  with  the  general  laws  of  com- 
position. When  there  are  two  or  more  figures, 
one  must  dominate  the  others,  or  they  must  be 
grouped  together  so  that  the  interest  will  not  be 
scattered.  They  may  well  be  engaged  in  some 
common  occupation  which  will  provide  a  reason 
for  the  grouping. 

If  the  idea  of  the  picture  is  romantic,  in  the 
sense  that  it  is  a  picture  that  tells  a  story,  figures 
may  be  needed,  but  a  safe  rule  is  to  omit  figures 
when  there  is  any  doubt  as  to  whether  they  add 
to  the  picture  or  not.  There  may,  of  course,  be 
figures  in  a  landscape  that  are  merely  quite  unim- 
portant accessories;  they  may  help  to  develop 
the  landscape  and  not  detract  from  its  importance. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  figures  tell  the  story, 
the  landscape  must  be  subordinated  as  much  as 
possible.  In  The  Explorers  (Fig.  16)  the  story 
is  told  by  the  figures,  while  the  landscape  merely 
provides  an  appropriate  setting,  but  in  Crescent 
Beach  (Fig.  17),  the  little  figures  in  the  foreground 

[80] 


Fig.  21.     A  HOME  PORTRAIT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

are  entirely  subordinate,  yet  add  a  touch  of 
human  interest. 

The  subject  of  figures  in  landscape  pictures 
naturally  leads  to  the  consideration  of  genre 
work,  for  when  the  figures  are  the  important  part 
of  the  picture  and  the  landscape  is  subordinated 
to  them,  the  picture  comes  into  the  class  of  genre 
rather  than  landscape.  Genre  subjects  often  pro- 
vide good  material  for  the  photographer,  and  this 
is  a  branch  of  artistic  work  that  can  be  handled 
very  adequately  by  the  camera.  Such  pictures 
come  under  two  general  heads:  some  are  planned 
and  arranged  by  the  photographer,  and  some, 
occurring  naturally,  are  seen  and  seized  upon 
by  the  photographer  without  any  preliminary 
arrangement  on  his  part.  In  other  words,  the 
composition  may  be  either  constructive  or  selec- 
tive. In  building  up  such  pictures,  the  impor- 
tant principles  of  art  should  always  be  observed. 
Unity,  balance,  simplicity  and  harmony  must  all 
be  considered. 

A  genre  picture,  as  distinguished  from  a  por- 
trait group,  should  emphasize  the  occupation  of 
the  persons  rather  than  the  persons  themselves, 
and,  therefore,  it  is  often  permissible  that  some 
of  the  figures  may  be  turned  away  from  the 
camera,  either  entirely  or  partly,  if  arrangement 
and  idea  are  thus  best  served.  In  The  Painter 
(Fig.  18)  all  the  figures  are  turning  their  backs, 

[si: 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

and  in  The  Explorers,  none  of  the  boys  are  ren- 
dered in  such  a  way  as  to  show  the  features  clearly, 
but  in  both  cases  the  story  is  told  clearly  and 
that  is  the  main  requirement.  Both  these  ex- 
amples were  obtained  by  seizing  the  opportunity 
as  it  occurred  and  making  the  exposure  without 
any  preliminary  posing  or  arrangement  of  the 
figures.  In  fact,  I  do  not  think,  in  either  case, 
the  people  shown  in  the  pictures  were  aware  that 
they  were  being  photographed.  I  think  that  this 
is  the  best  way  to  secure  the  naturalness  and  lack 
of  self-consciousness  that  are  so  important  hi  such 
pictures. 

In  building  up  genre  pictures  with  models  who 
are  fully  aware  that  a  picture  is  being  made,  the 
main  difficulty  is  to  avoid  showing  evidence  of 
conscious  posing.  The  difference  in  the  use  of 
the  model  by  the  painter  and  the  photographer  is 
at  this  point  made  manifest.  To  the  one  he 
appears  as  a  suggestion,  to  the  other  he  is  the 
fact.  The  photographer  must,  therefore,  be  en- 
dowed with  such  distinguished  gifts  or  conver- 
sant with  such  clever  devices  as  will  make  the 
model  forget  himself.  This  can  be  done  and  often 
has  been  done  with  entire  success  by  photograph- 
ers. Perhaps  the  best  examples  I  can  refer  to 
are  the  supremely  perfect  photographs  of  posed 
models  by  Guido  Rey  of  Turin,  each  in  its  way  a 
little  masterpiece  of  composition  and  arrange- 

[82] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

ment,  and  without  a  flaw  technically.  But  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  photographer  would  do 
better  to  avail  himself  of  the  peculiar  facility 
offered  by  photography  for  making  the  picture 
almost  instantaneously  when  the  figures  are 
either  totally  unaware  of  what  is  being  done  or 
are  not  making  any  conscious  effort  to  adopt  a 
preconceived  pose. 


[83] 


CHAPTER  IV 

Linear  Perspective  —  Focal  Length  of  the  Lens  with  Relation  to 
the  Point  of  View  —  Aerial  Perspective  —  The  Effect  of 
Atmosphere  on  the  Tones  of  a  Picture  —  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice of  Orthochromatic  Photography  —  When  to  Use  a 
Color  Plate  —  Full  Correction  Sometimes  Unnecessary. 

T)ERSPECTIVE  is  a  science  of  which  the 
iL  picture-maker  should  know  something,  for, 
though  it  is  usually  taken  for  granted  that  the 
lens  will,  automatically,  render  linear  perspec- 
tive correctly,  it  is  often  the  case  that  correct  and 
scientifically  accurate  perspective  is  not  the  most 
pleasing  from  the  artistic  point  of  view.  It  is 
quite  true  that  the  lens  will,  if  it  is  properly 
manipulated,  draw  objects  in  correct  perspective, 
but  if  this  correct  perspective  looks  wrong  it  will 
not  be  at  all  satisfactory  to  the  artist. 

The  apparent  truth  of  the  perspective  given 
by  the  lens  is  governed  entirely  by  the  point  of 
view  from  which  the  picture  is  taken.  If  we  are 
using  a  short-focus  lens  and  get  very  close  to  our 
subject,  in  order  to  make  it  large  enough  properly 
to  fill  the  picture  space,  we  shall  be  apt  to  get 
violent  perspective  or  what  an  artist  would  call 
"bad  drawing."  The  perspective  is  not  wrong. 
According  to  the  laws  of  optics,  it  may  be  abso- 

[84] 


Fig.  22.     A  SUMMER  CAMPER 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

lutely  correct,  but  it  is  not  pleasing  or  natural, 
for  the  eye  does  not  naturally  see  at  once  as  wide 
an  angle  of  view  as  can  be  included  by  a  short- 
focus  lens.  The  eye  is,  practically,  a  long-focus 
lens.  It  covers  only  a  comparatively  narrow 
angle,  and  in  order  to  see  as  much  as  can  be  in- 
cluded in  a  picture  made  with  a  short-focus  lens 
we  have  to  move  the  eyes  a  little  and  look  at  the 
various  objects  in  succession. 

For  purely  decorative  or  pictorial  photogra- 
phy, a  lens  of  comparatively  long  focus  should 
usually  be  selected,  because  such  a  lens  will  pro- 
duce an  image  that  more  closely  approximates 
what  is  seen  by  the  eye.  The  use  of  a  long-focus 
lens  will  also  obviate  the  necessity  for  getting  too 
close  to  the  subject  and  thus  obtaining  violent 
and  unpleasant  perspective.  Distortion  and  exag- 
geration are  not  the  result  of  using  a  short-focus 
lens,  but  of  selecting  a  wrong  viewpoint. 

The  focal  length  of  the  lens  determines  the  size 
of  the  objects  photographed.  A  short-focus  lens 
will  show  everything  smaller  and  will  include 
more  of  the  surrounding  objects  than  a  lens  of 
longer  focus  used  at  the  same  viewpoint.  The 
size  depends  upon  the  distance  between  the  lens 
and  the  objects  photographed.  Suppose  we  are 
making  a  portrait,  and  are  using  a  nine-inch  lens 
and  a  5  x  7  plate;  if  the  camera  is  about  ten  feet 
from  the  sitter  we  shall  find  that  the  figure  is 

[85] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

quite  small  in  the  picture.  A  full-length  average 
standing  figure  would  be  only  about  four  or  five 
inches  high  and  the  head,  of  course,  would  be 
quite  small,  only  about  half  an  inch  or  so  in 
diameter.  If  we  want  to  make  the  head  larger, 
so  that  it  will  nearly  fill  the  plate,  there  will  be 
two  courses  open  to  us.  We  can  either  move  the 
camera  nearer  the  subject,  or  we  can  use  a  lens 
of  longer  focus  from  the  same  viewpoint. 

Unfortunately,  the  first  is  what  is  usually  done, 
with  the  result  that  we  get  unsatisfactory  per- 
spective, not  because  we  are  using  a  short-focus 
lens,  but  because  we  have  selected  too  near  a 
viewpoint.  The  lens  is  not  at  fault;  the  bad 
drawing  is  caused  simply  by  its  being  too  near. 
This  is  true  not  only  of  portraits  but  of  all  kinds 
of  pictures,  but  it  is  more  noticeable  in  por- 
traits because  a  much  foreshortened  hand,  arm 
or  shoulder  usually  is  very  prominent.  Suppose 
we  are  photographing  a  landscape,  such  as  a  tree 
with  some  hills  in  the  background.  With  a  ten- 
inch  lens  on  a  4  x  5  plate  we  can  get  a  very  satis- 
factory arrangement,  with  the  tree  in  the  fore- 
ground of  the  proper  size,  and  the  distant  hills 
about  as  large  as  they  ought  to  be.  Now,  sup- 
pose we  substitute  a  five-inch  lens  for  the  ten- 
inch  lens,  and  photograph  the  same  view  from 
the  same  standpoint.  We  shall  get  just  the  same 
relative  proportions  in  the  size  of  the  tree  and 

[86] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  distant  hills,  but  both  will  be  smaller,  only 
half  as  large  as  in  the  picture  made  with  the  ten- 
inch  lens,  and  more  of  the  surrounding  country 
will  be  included  on  the  plate.  But  we  want  the 
tree  to  be  large  enough  to  show  up  well  in  the 
picture,  so  we  proceed  to  move  the  camera  closer 
to  the  tree,  until  we  can  get  it  about  the  same  size 
on  the  focusing  screen  as  it  was  in  the  picture 
made  with  the  ten-inch  lens.  The  tree  may  now 
be  all  right,  but  what  about  the  distant  hills? 
They  will  be  very  small  and  the  whole  distance 
will  appear  to  be  dwarfed  and  insignhicant,  so 
that  anyone  who  knows  the  locality  will  see  that 
they  appear  to  be  only  about  half  their  proper 
height,  while  the  foreground  and  middle  distance 
will  seem  too  large  and  flat. 

This  effect  is  caused  by  the  wrong  viewpoint 
having  been  selected.  If  we  were  to  enlarge  the 
portion  of  the  negative  made  with  the  five-inch 
lens  from  the  same  viewpoint  as  the  ten-inch 
picture,  and  to  make  the  tree  just  the  same  size 
as  it  was  in  the  ten-inch  picture,  everything  else 
would  be  just  the  same  size,  and  the  two  pictures 

—  the  direct  print  from  the  ten-inch  picture  and 
the  enlargement  of  part  of  the  five-inch  picture 

—  would  be  exactly  alike. 

So,  when  using  a  short-focus  lens  (and,  for  pic- 
torial purposes,  anything  less  than  nine  or  ten 
inches  for  a  4  x  5  plate  would  be  considered  short) 

£87] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

we  must  be  satisfied  to  take  our  pictures  small  and 
subsequently  enlarge  only  the  part  we  want. 

It  must  be  understood,  and  perhaps  it  is  un- 
necessary to  mention,  that  the  characterization 
of  the  focal  length  is  relative  to  the  size  of  the 
plate  for  which  it  is  used.  A  10-inch  lens  when 
used  for  a  4  x  5  plate  would  be  considered  a  long- 
focus  lens,  but  the  same  lens  if  used  for  an  8  x  10 
plate  would  be  a  short-focus  lens.  So,  if  we  trim 
a  4  x  5  print  until  we  have  a  little  picture  measur- 
ing only,  say,  an  inch  by  an  inch  and  a  half,  and 
if  we  had  used  a  five-inch  lens  to  make  this 
picture,  we  could  consider  it  a  long-focus  lens, 
because  for  a  plate  that  size  it  would  be,  rela- 
tively, a  long-focus  lens. 

Sometimes  it  is  roughly  estimated  that  the  sum 
of  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  plate  is  about 
right  for  the  focal  length  of  the  lens.  That  would 
give  twelve  inches  for  a  5  x  7  plate,  nine  inches 
for  a  4  x  5,  and  so  on.  In  any  case  a  lens  with  a 
focal  length  measuring  less  than  the  diagonal  of 
the  plate  is  not  advisable  for  picture-making  ex- 
cept for  specific  purposes.  The  diagonal  of  a 
4  x  5  is  6.4  inches,  of  a  5  x  7,  8.6  inches,  and  of 
a  6J  x  8£,  10.7  inches. 

The  amount  of  view  that  can  easily  be  seen 
without  moving  the  eyes  or  turning  the  head 
includes  about  25°,  whereas  the  angle  of  view 
included  by  a  five-inch  lens  on  a  4x5  plate  is 

[88] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

about  65°.  A  fourteen-inch  lens  used  on  a  4  x  5 
plate  would  include  just  about  the  same  angle 
of  view  as  is  seen  by  the  eye,  but  a  nine-  or  ten- 
inch  lens,  for  a  plate  of  this  size,  gives  quite 
agreeable  perspective.  Sometimes,  in  architectural 
work,  a  short-focus  lens,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  a  wide-angle  lens,  has  to  be  used  in  order 
to  include  enough  of  the  subject  when  it  is  not 
possible  to  select  a  sufficiently  distant  viewpoint 
to  get  it  all  in  with  a  long-focus  lens.  Hence  we 
get  rather  abrupt  and  not  the  most  pleasing  per- 
spective. So,  if  you  want  large  pictures,  as  when 
you  want  to  photograph  a  head  and  shoulders  on 
a  comparatively  large  scale,  you  must  use  a  long- 
focus  lens  or  enlarge  a  small  image,  rather  than 
get  the  size  by  going  too  close  to  the  subject. 
As  a  general  rule,  it  is  advisable  never  to  place 
the  camera  nearer  than  seven  or  eight  feet  when 
photographing  a  person.  At  seven  feet,  to  make 
a  head  four  inches  high  a  lens  of  twenty  inches' 
focal  length  will  be  needed. 

Those  who  possess  a  symmetrical  rapid  recti- 
linear lens  might  try  the  effect  of  using  only  a 
single  component  of  the  lens,  either  the  front  or 
the  back  combination.  This  will  give  a  single  lens 
of  about  twice  the  focal  length  of  the  combined 
lenses,  which  will  be  found  to  give  sufficiently 
good  definition  for  portraits  and  for  landscapes. 

For  outdoor  work,  landscape  and  marine  pic- 

[89] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

tures,  a  long-focus  lens  is  usually  more  satisfac- 
tory, because  with  it  we  can  more  easily  isolate 
and  emphasize  the  principal  object  of  interest, 
and  make  it  large  enough  without  having  to  get 
too  close.  Of  course,  no  very  definite  rules  can 
be  given  with  regard  to  this,  for  each  worker 
must  be  guided  by  circumstances.  I  might  per- 
haps state  that  most  of  my  own  outdoor  pictures 
are  made  with  an  eleven-inch  lens  (a  Smith  single, 
semi-achromatic)  which  I  use  on  a  4x5  Reflex 
camera.  The  focal  length  of  the  lens  and  the 
type  used  must  be  determined  by  individual  cir- 
cumstances, depending  upon  the  size  and  type 
of  the  camera  and  other  details.  Sometimes  one 
of  comparatively  short  focal  length  must  be  used 
in  order  to  include  all  of  the  subject  required,  but 
when  there  is  any  choice,  the  longest  possible 
focal  length  should  be  selected,  so  that  a  more 
distant  viewpoint  can  be  taken,  with  the  corre- 
sponding advantage  of  more  natural  and  more 
agreeable  perspective. 

If  the  pictorial  worker  will  bear  in  mind  the 
fact  that  the  viewpoint  rather  than  the  focal 
length  of  the  lens  determines  the  perspective  of 
the  picture,  he  will  prefer  to  get  his  original  image 
small  and  get  the  required  size  by  enlarging  from 
part  of  the  negative,  rather  than  to  get  the  image 
larger  by  getting  too  close. 

This  is  about  all  a  pictorial  worker  really  needs 
[90] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  know  about  linear  perspective,  but  there  is 
another  kind  of  perspective  that  is  of  great  im- 
portance in  picture-making.  This  is  known  as 
aerial  perspective,  and  this  kind  of  perspective 
imparts  "atmosphere"  and  depth  to  a  picture, 
and  gives  a  suggestion  of  space  and  distance  in 
an  outdoor  view.  It  suggests  atmosphere  in  a 
picture  because  it  is  caused  by  the  presence  of 
invisible  particles  of  dust  and  moisture  in  the 
air.  By  means  of  aerial  perspective  we  can  make 
distant  parts  of  the  scene  seem  remote,  and  can 
get  a  satisfactory  separation  of  planes. 

As  the  different  objects  in  a  landscape  recede 
farther  and  farther  from  the  eye,  they  lose  their 
intensity  of  color  and  their  contrasts  become 
softened.  This  is  caused  by  atmosphere. 

Atmosphere  must  not  be  confused  with  mist 
or  fog,  for  on  days  on  which  there  is  no  mist  there 
is  still  atmosphere,  and  this  — the  particles  of 
dust  and  moisture  —  alters  both  the  contrasts 
and  the  local  colorings  of  distant  objects. 

In  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  Note  Book  we  find  this: 
"Objects  being  at  a  distance  from  the  eye  .  .  . 
and  when  this  is  the  case  there  must  of  necessity 
be  a  considerable  quantity  of  atmosphere  between 
the  eye  and  the  object,  and  this  atmosphere  inter- 
feres with  the  distinctness  of  the  form  of  the 
objects  and  consequently  the  minute  details  of 
these  bodies  become  indistinguishable  and  un- 

[91] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

recognisable."  Again  we  find:  " Shadows  become 
lost  in  the  far  distance,  because  the  vast  expanse 
of  luminous  atmosphere  that  lies  between  the  eye 
and  the  objects  .  .  .  etc." 

Let  us  suppose  that  there  are  a  white  house 
and  a  dark  oak  tree  far  off  in  the  distance.  The 
"vast  expanse  of  luminous  atmosphere  that  lies 
between  the  eye  and  the  objects"  might  reduce 
the  white  house  and  the  dark  tree  to  the  same 
shade  of  gray,  for  the  tree,  seen  through  the  vast 
expanse  of  atmosphere,  would  look  gray  instead 
of  black,  and  the  brilliant  rays  of  light  reflected 
from  the  white  house,  in  passing  through  the 
atmosphere,  lose  so  much  of  their  brilliancy  that 
the  house  appears  to  be  gray  instead  of  white. 

There  are  occasionally  days  in  the  summer 
when  the  atmosphere  is  very  clear  and  dry,  when 
there  is  presumably  very  little  moisture  in  the 
air,  and  on  those  days  the  distance  is  unusually 
clear,  distinct  and  dark  in  tone.  I  have  seen 
such  days  in  New  Hampshire,  toward  the  end  of 
summer,  when  the  hills  across  Lake  Winnepe- 
saukee  look  almost  black,  and  one  can  almost 
distinguish  individual  trees  and  houses  many 
miles  away.  A  photograph  made  on  such  a  day 
would  be  entirely  lacking  in  atmosphere.  The 
distance  and  middle  distance  would  be  just  as 
dark,  and  would  appear  to  be  just  as  close  as 
the  foreground,  and  only  the  diminished  size 

C92] 


Fig.  23.     PORTRAIT  OF  A  PAINTER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

of  objects  in  the  distant  planes  would  suggest 
perspective.  The  effect  would  be  much  the  same 
as  is  seen  in  photographs  that  are  underexposed. 
There  would  be  no  separation  of  planes,  and  the 
whole  scene  would  look  flat,  like  the  conventional 
design  on  a  willow-pattern  plate. 

It  is  often  stated  and  commonly  believed  that 
the  use  of  an  orthochromatic  plate  and  a  deep 
color-filter  will  cut  out  atmosphere,  but  this  is 
not  strictly  true.  The  orthochromatic  rendering 
simply  does  not  exaggerate  the  atmosphere,  but 
the  ordinary  plate  with  no  color-screen,  being 
very  readily  affected  by  the  blue,  violet  and 
ultra-violet  rays  in  the  atmosphere,  really  exag- 
gerates and  increases  a  little  the  appearance  of 
atmosphere  in  the  picture,  while  the  orthochro- 
matic plate  with  the  color  filter  represents  it 
more  as  it  really  is.  On  days,  therefore,  when 
there  is  already  a  good  deal  of  visible  atmosphere, 
it  might  be  better  to  employ  orthochromatic 
methods,  unless  even  more  mist  and  fog  were 
wanted  in  the  picture. 

The  problem  of  adequately  rendering  the  con- 
trasts of  light  and  shade  in  a  photograph  is  a 
difficult  one,  but  when  we  add  to  it  the  compli- 
cations of  color  contrasts  we  increase  the  diffi- 
culty. Some  years  ago  it  was  thought  to  be 
inevitable  that  certain  colors  would  photograph 
too  dark  and  others  too  light.  This  was  regarded 

[93] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

as  an  unavoidable  limitation  of  photography,  but 
scientists  have  been  investigating  and  working  on 
that  problem  and  now,  by  using  a  panchromatic 
plate  and  a  properly  adjusted  ray-filter,  we  can 
render  colors  according  to  their  true  visual  in- 
tensity. This  is  very  desirable  in  many  branches 
of  photographic  work.  White  light,  as  we  know, 
is  made  up  of  all  the  colors  of  the  spectrum,  those 
that  we  can  see  being  red,  orange,  yellow,  green, 
blue  and  violet.  There  are  also  invisible  rays 
at  both  ends  of  the  spectrum,  the  infra-red  and 
the  ultra-violet.  An  ordinary  photographic  plate 
or  film  is  abnormally  sensitive  to  the  light  rays 
at  the  violet  end  of  the  spectrum  and  is  strongly 
affected  by  the  ultra-violet  rays,  which  are  in- 
visible though  they  are  present  in  sunlight,  but  it 
is  practically  insensitive  to  red  and  to  the  colors 
at  the  red  end  of  the  spectrum.  Therefore, 
an  ordinary  plate  sees  red  as  black  and  is 
affected  only  very  little  by  orange  and  yellow, 
so  that  those  colors  appear  very  dark  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  being  so  sensitive  to  blue 
and  violet,  these  colors  are  made  to  appear  too 
light.  That  is  why  we  can  use  a  red  light  in  the 
darkroom,  as  the  plate  is  affected,  practically,  not 
at  all  by  red  light. 

"Through  the  thick  corn  the  scarlet  poppies  peep 
And  'round  green  roots  and  yellowing  stalks  I  see 
Pale  blue  convolvulus  in  tendrils  creep: 

[94] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

And  air-swept  lindens  yield 

Their  scent,  and  rustle  down  their  perfumed  showers 
Of  bloom  on  the  bent  grass  where  I  am  laid, 
And  bower  me  from  the  August  sun  with  shade; 
And  the  eye  travels  down  to  Oxford's  towers." 


There  is  much  color  in  nature,  and  unless  the 
colors  can  be  properly  rendered  in  a  photograph 
the  tones  and  values  will  be  incorrect.  With  a 
plate  that  sees  blue  as  white  and  red  as  black 
and  other  colors  more  or  less  incorrectly,  how 
could  we  picture  scarlet  poppies,  the  greens  and 
yellows  in  roots  and  stalks,  and  pale  blue  con- 
volvulus? 

*  Yellow  is  often  a  very  bright  color;  its  visual 
intensity  is  very  high,  but  its  actinic  value  is 
low.  Blue  may  be  a  dark  blue,  of  low  visual  in- 
tensity, but  it  would  be  very  actinic.  When 
colors  are  mixed,  when  we  have  brown,  green, 
purple  and  so  on  in  a  landscape,  it  is  hard  to  tell 
just  what  is  going  to  happen. 

If  things  worked  out  strictly  according  to 
theory;  if,  in  an  ordinary  outdoor  scene,  the 
colors  were  pure  colors;  if  a  red  object  reflected 
only  red  light,  a  green  object  only  green  light  and 
so  on,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  photograph 
such  a  scene  with  an  ordinary  plate  and  get  the 
colors  so  that  they  would  look  right.  An  ordi- 
nary plate  is  blind  to  yellowish  green,  orange  and 
red,  and,  therefore,  according  to  theory,  it  would 

[95] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

be  impossible  for  an  ordinary  plate  to  photograph 
grass  or  flowers  except  those  that  were  blue  or 
white,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  practically  all 
objects  reflect  more  or  less  white  light  as  well  as 
their  predominant  color,  and  when  they  are 
objects  like  grass  and  leaves  which  have  com- 
paratively shiny  surfaces,  they  probably  reflect 
an  immense  amount  of  white  light  and  blue  light 
from  the  sky.  More  especially  is  this  the  case 
when  they  are  wet.  Then,  too,  just  because  an 
object  looks  yellow  or  red  or  green,  it  does  not 
necessarily  follow  that  it  absorbs  all  the  blue  and 
violet  light-waves.  Some  time  ago  I  made  a 
darkroom  lamp,  using  a  piece  of  ruby  glass  and 
a  piece  of  orange  glass.  The  ruby  glass  looked 
red  and  the  orange  glass  looked  orange,  but  the 
two  together  were  able  to  pass  enough  white  light 
to  fog  plates  and  films  with  great  ease  and  rapid- 
ity. And  do  we,  for  pictorial  purposes,  always 
desire  to  reproduce  colors  absolutely  correctly? 
We  want  them  to  look  right;  we  want  the  shades 
of  tone  to  suggest  the  original  colors;  but  do  we 
always  want  absolute  and  scientific  accuracy? 

The  ordinary  plate,  as  we  know,  renders  colors 
incorrectly.  Blue  comes  out  too  light,  and  yellow, 
green  and  red  too  dark.  A  panchromatic  plate 
exposed  correctly  through  a  perfectly  balanced 
and  accurately  matched  color-screen  will  render 
every  color  and  every  shade  of  color  with  abso- 

[96] 


Fig.  24.     THE  FAIR-HAIRED  BOY 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

lute  accuracy.  Yet  with  proper  exposure  and 
soft  development,  which  will  prevent  the  sky 
from  becoming  too  dense  in  the  negative,  the 
ordinary  plate  will  often  give  a  far  more  pleasing 
and  more  restful  picture;  the  sky  will  be  simple 
in  tone  and  we  will  get  the  full  effect  of  haze, 
mist  and  atmosphere  to  soften  and  simplify  the 
distant  planes.  We  shall  get  detail  mostly  in 
the  grays  and  bluish  greens,  while  the  rest  will 
be  simplified.  Full  correction  is  rarely  needed 
in  pictorial  photography.  The  simplification  of 
the  picture  and  the  elimination  of  unessential 
details  are  more  easily  accomplished  by  the 
thoughtful  and  rational  use  of  just  so  much  color 
correction  as  is  needed  for  the  special  subject. 

For  all  practical  purposes  I  believe  that  an 
orthochromatic  plate,  used  sometimes  with  a 
screen  and  sometimes  without,  will  enable  a 
photographer  to  exercise  some  control  over  his 
results,  for  he  can  use  the  screen  or  not  accord- 
ing to  the  effect  he  wants  to  get  and  the  tones  he 
wants  to  emphasize.  Personally  I  have  seldom 
used  a  ray-filter  that  multiplies  the  exposure 
more  than  four  times  for  outdoor  work.  When 
used  without  a  ray-filter,  any  first-class,  rapid, 
orthochromatic  plate  will  do  everything  that  an 
ordinary  plate  can  accomplish,  and,  with  a  ray- 
filter,  it  is  capable  of  much  of  a  most  desirable 
type  of  work  that  is  quite  beyond  the  possibili- 

[97] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

ties  of  ordinary  photography.  The  orthochro- 
matic  plate,  being  blind  to  red,  can  be  safely 
developed  by  a  good  red  light,  whereas  a  pan- 
chromatic 'plate  has  to  be  developed  in  the 
dark. 

Without  a  screen  an  orthochromatic  plate  is 
very  similar  to  an  ordinary  plate,  except  that  it 
is  more  sensitive  to  yellow  and  green.  It  is  still 
abnormally  sensitive  to  blue,  violet  and  ultra- 
violet, just  like  the  ordinary  plate,  and  there  is 
practically  very  little  difference  between  a  good 
ordinary  plate  and  an  orthochromatic  plate  used 
without  a  ray-filter,  but  as  soon  as  we  use  even 
a  pale  color-screen  and  begin  to  cut  down  the 
intensity  of  the  blue  and  violet,  we  notice  a  dif- 
ference at  once.  The  screen  allows  the  greens, 
yellows  and  reds  to  pass  through  unchecked,  while 
it  stops  the  ultra-violet  and  reduces  the  intensity 
of  the  blue  and  violet  rays.  The  cutting  out  of 
the  ultra-violet  and  the  checking  of  the  violet 
and  blue  allow  of  a  longer  exposure  being  given, 
and  this  extra  time  gives  the  greens,  yellows  and 
browns  a  chance  to  catch  up  and  get  themselves 
more  strongly  impressed  on  the  plate.  There 
are  times  when  we  can  produce  a  picture  that  is 
pleasing  and  not  obviously  untruthful  by  using 
an  unscreened  plate,  and  again  there  are  times 
when  the  violet  and  ultra-violet  rays  are  too 
strong,  or  when  the  delicate  tints  of  the  landscape 

[98] 


Fig.  25.     CHABLIE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

are  so  beautiful  that  it  would  be  a  serious  error 
not  to  translate  them  as  accurately  as  possible, 
and  then  the  screen  should  be  brought  into  play. 
A  panchromatic  plate,  absolutely  corrected,  is 
seldom  necessary  for  pictorial  work  unless  the 
subject  depends  for  its  truth  and  effectiveness 
upon  the  correct  rendering  of  red  (scarlet  poppies, 
yellow  stalks  and  blue  convolvulus,  for  instance). 
For  all  ordinary  purposes  an  orthochromatic 
plate  used  intelligently,  with  or  without  a  screen, 
as  occasion  demands,  will  give  such  negatives  as 
the  pictorialist  can  best  make  use  of. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  there  is  any  desire 
on  my  part  to  depreciate  orthochromatic  methods 
or  to  advise  against  taking  advantage  of  the  un- 
doubted benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  proper 
use  of  orthochromatic  plates  and  ray-filters.  For 
certain  kinds  of  photographic  work  they  are  in- 
dispensable; for  copying  paintings  and  all  colored 
objects,  and  for  commercial  photography  of  many 
kinds,  a  panchromatic  plate  and  a  properly  ad- 
justed ray-filter  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
best  results,  but  we  are  dealing  in  these  chapters 
with  the  purely  pictorial  and  artistic  aspect  of 
photography,  and  the  artist  who  knows  when 
and  how  to  use  a  screen,  and  who  knows  also 
when  and  how  to  obtain  certain  desired  results 
without  a  screen,  is  the  skilled  craftsman,  whereas 
the  man  who  works  by  one  fixed  plan,  whether 

[99] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

he  adopts  orthochromatic  methods  or  whether  he 
refuses  to  do  so,  is  working  mechanically. 

It  needs  some  experience  to  decide  just  when 
and  under  what  conditions  a  screen  is  needed  and 
when  it  would  be  better  not  to  use  it,  for  there 
are  times  when  a  more  pleasing,  a  simpler  and 
more  interesting  picture  can  be  made  with  an 
unscreened  plate.  Of  course,  when  Nature  hap- 
pens to  be  just  right  (and  that  does  happen  quite 
frequently,  in  spite  of  Whistler's  assertion  that 
"Nature  is  very  rarely  right")  he  who  tries  to 
improve  upon  panchromatic  methods  plus  a 
screen  is  making  a  mistake.  Very  frequently, 
however,  the  desired  effect  can  be  better  secured 
without  a  screen;  the  dreary  stillness  of  a  gray 
day  can  be  emphasized,  or  the  mystery  and  charm 
of  gleams  of  sunlight  breaking  through  an  early 
morning  mist  with  a  hazy  and  atmospheric  dis- 
tance can  be  enhanced.  When  working  in  a  big 
city  we  frequently  need  to  soften  and  subdue  an 
uninteresting  and  prosaic  background,  and  often 
we  can  do  it  by  using  an  unscreened  plate  that 
will  tend  to  increase  any  fog,  haze  or  smoke  that 
may  be  present,  whereas  if  we  used  an  ortho- 
chromatic  plate  or  a  panchromatic  plate  with  a 
screen  all  the  commonplace  and  uninteresting  de- 
tails in  the  background  would  be  brought  out 
distinctly. 

Another  reason  why  I  think  full  correction  of 

[100] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

color  values  is  often  unnecessary  is  because  —  as 
was  mentioned  in  Chapter  I  —  the  camera  is 
essentially  a  "copying  machine,"  and  our  aim 
in  pictorial  work  is  to  interpret  nature  rather 
than  to  reproduce  things  exactly  as  they  are. 
When  a  panchromatic  plate  is  used  with  a  cor- 
rectly adjusted  filter,  the  efficiency  of  the  camera 
as  a  copying  machine  is  much  increased.  The 
camera  can  then  reproduce  not  only  the  correct 
light  and  shade  contrasts,  but  also  correct  color 
contrasts. 

Full  color-correction  demands  approximately 
correct  exposure  and  development  of  the  plate, 
for  the  more  nearly  correct  is  the  exposure,  the 
more  truthfully  will  the  color  contrasts  be  re- 
produced in  the  negative,  so,  by  reason  of  the 
necessity  for  scientific  accuracy,  we  lose  the 
possibility  of  varying  the  effect  by  varying  the 
exposure  and  development.  We  cannot  play 
with  the  tones  as  we  can  with  an  unscreened 
plate;  we  cannot  expose  for  the  tones  that  are 
most  desired,  and  modify  the  scale  of  tones  in, the 
picture  by  giving  a  full  exposure  arid:  .^topping  .. 
development  when  the  tones  are  wjiarfc*  w£  *want. 
With  a  panchromatic  plate  and  a*jy^,:thpjc6rr;.*;  •;  J  J  ;\ 
rect  normal  exposure  must  be  given,  and*  tne 
plate  must  be  developed  to  the  proper  normal 
density,  otherwise  the  tones  and  color  contrasts 
will  be  wrong.  The  operation  is  purely  scientific 

[101] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

and  mechanical;  there  is  no  opportunity  for  per- 
sonal control,  nor  is  any  modification  possible  or 
desirable.  So,  when  conditions  are  such  that  the 
artist  can  get  the  effect  he  desires  by  copying 
nature,  and  by  reproducing  as  accurately  as 
possible  the  color  contrasts  in  the  subject,  he 
should  use  an  orthochromatic  or  a  panchromatic 
plate  with  a  proper  compensating  filter,  and 
should  do  all  in  his  power  to  avail  himself  of  the 
wonderful  efficiency  of  the  camera  as  a  copying 
machine,  but  when  he  wants  to  modify  the  tones 
in  the  subject,  he  is  perfectly  justified  in  doing 
so  by  any  possible  means  as  long  as,  in  doing  so, 
he  merely  emphasizes,  eliminates,  or  modifies  cer- 
tain aspects  of  the  subject,  and  does  not  actually 
and  obviously  falsify  the  tones. 

The  tones  may  be  simplified  without  being  falsi- 
fied by  using  an  unscreened  plate,  so  that,  instead 
of  having  every  color  and  every  shade  of  color 
accurately  differentiated,  they  may  be  massed  and 
rendered  less  complex  by  exaggerating  instead  of 
truthfully  rendering  the  atmospheric  effect.  The 
pietcri^list  is  not  bound  by  the  rules  of  the  expert 
copyist,  '"who, is  more  concerned  in  reproducing 
;t|ie'^rkiii,;Textiire  and  high  finish  of  the  rosewood 
case  of  a  grand  piano  than  in  rendering  the  grace, 
beauty  and  airy  lightness  of  a  group  of  silver 
birches  against  a  background  of  pine  trees.  The 
beauty  of  a  picture  and  the  message  we  want  to 
C1023 


Fig.  26.     PORTRAIT  OF  JACK 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

convey  may  depend  upon  the  correct  translation 
of  tones  and  color  contrasts,  or  they  may  depend 
upon  the  emphasis  of  certain  aspects  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  artist  must  decide  whether  complete 
orthochromatism  is  desirable,  or  whether  modifi- 
cation and  simplification  of  the  tones  and  con- 
trasts will  better  enable  him  to  get  the  effect  he 
wants.  In  this  he  can  be  guided  only  by  experi- 
ence. 

For  snow  scenes,  whether  there  is  sunlight  or 
not,  a  screen  is  nearly  always  desirable,  for  other- 
wise it  is  almost  impossible  to  suggest  the  color 
of  snow  and  to  get  the  proper  tone-relation  be- 
tween the  snow  and  the  sky. 


£103] 


CHAPTER  V 

Simplicity  —  Sympathy  —  Restraint  —  The  Law  of  Principality 
—  Emphasis. 

of  the  most  important  qualities  a  picture 
can  possess  is  simplicity.  This  is  true  not 
only  of  photographic  pictures  but  also  of  draw- 
ings, paintings  or  etchings.  By  being  simple  a 
picture  gains  enormously  in  strength  and  effec- 
tiveness; it  wears  well;  one  can  live  with  it  and 
enjoy  it  without  getting  tired  of  it. 

Simplicity  is  especially  valuable  in  photographs 
because  it  is  so  fatally  easy  to  include  in  a  photo- 
graph too  many  interesting  objects;  to  make  it 
so  crowded  with  lines,  masses  and  tones  that  it 
becomes  irritating  and  far  from  restful. 

Every  means  of  pictorial  expression  has  its  own 
inherent  difficulties;  each  art,  painting,  music  or 
poetry,  is  shackled  with  material  fetters.  The 
impartiality  with  which  the  camera  records  every- 
thing in  the  field  of  view  is  the  greatest  difficulty 
which  the  artist  who  uses  a  camera  has  to  guard 
against,  and  he  must  do  all  he  can  to  curb  the 
lavishness  and  prodigality  of  the  lens.  The  eye 
of  the  camera,  the  lens,  is  mechanical,  it  has  no 
accommodating  brain  behind  it,  and  it  records 

[104] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

everything  it  sees  in  a  manner  very  different 
from  what  our  eyes  see.  Just  because  it  can  take 
in  more  detail  at  one  time  than  the  human  eye, 
the  accuracy  of  the  lens  is  often  regarded  as  in- 
fallible, whereas,  from  the  artistic  standpoint,  a 
lens  is  less  accurate  than  the  trained  eye. 

Simplicity  of  line  is  essential  in  a  photographic 
picture,  because,  if  there  are  too  many  prominent 
lines,  actual  or  suggested,  they  lose  their  force 
and  fail  entirely  to  have  any  expression  or  to 
convey  the  desired  impressions.  Simplicity  of  line 
does  not  necessarily  imply  that  there  must  be 
only  one  or  two  different  objects  in  the  picture, 
but,  if  there  are  many  different  objects,  they 
should  be  massed  together  so  that  the  lines  of 
the  masses  are  prominent  rather  than  the  lines  of 
each  individual  object.  The  picture  may  repre- 
sent, for  example,  a  number  of  trees  or  a  crowd  of 
people  or  a  group  of  shipping,  but  if  the  different 
objects  are  well  massed,  the  lines  of  the  picture 
will  still  be  simple,  for  the  outlines  of  the  masses 
will  be  the  ones  that  are  strongly  felt  rather  than 
the  outline  of  each  tree,  each  person  in  the  crowd, 
or  each  spar  or  mast  in  the  shipping  group. 

Simplicity  of  tone  is  necessary  in  a  photograph 
on  account  of  the  limitations  of  photography, 
which  can  reproduce  only  a  comparatively  short 
range  of  tones.  So  the  tones  have  to  be  simplified, 
because  the  range  of  tones  in  the  subject  is  often 
Lies: 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

far  greater  than  the  range  of  gradations  possible 
with  any  pointing  process  yet  available.  We  can 
get  a  long  range  of  tones  in  the  negative  by  using 
a  thickly  coated  or  double-coated  plate.  There 
might  then  be  small  portions  that  are  bare  glass, 
together  with  gradations  increasing  in  density  to 
those  which  were  quite  opaque,  but  we  could 
never  print  all  these  tones.  If  we  had  such  a 
negative  and  tried  to  make  a  print  from  it,  we 
would  have  to  sacrifice  some  of  the  tones,  either 
at  the  top  or  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale.  If  we 
printed  until  the  gradations  in  the  highlights 
were  visible  we  would  find  the  shadows  much 
overprinted,  very  black,  solid  and  empty,  and  if 
we  printed  for  the  shadows,  the  highlights  would 
be  harsh  and  chalky  and  would  be  entirely  lack- 
ing in  gradation.  Therefore  it  is  evident  that  a 
very  long  range  of  tones  is  not  desirable  in  the 
negative,  for  the  negative  is  merely  a  means  to 
the  end  and  the  picture  is  what  we  are  working 
for.  So  the  artist,  in  making  his  negative,  will 
develop  until  the  highlights  have  just  sufficient 
density  to  print  out  without  blocking  the  shadows, 
and  he  will  expose  so  that  the  shadow  detail,  or 
as  much  shadow  detail  as  he  wants,  can  be  de- 
veloped without  overdevelopment  of  the  high- 
lights. This  means  full  exposure  and  careful 
development,  not  carried  too  far. 

If  the  subject  is  one  in  which  there  is  a  full 

[106] 


Fig.  28.     PORTRAIT,  MR.  B. 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

range  of  tones,  it  will  sometimes  be  necessary 
to  sacrifice  some  of  the  middle  tones  and  compress 
the  scale,  so  that  we  can  get  in  the  print  the 
darkest  and  lightest  tones  in  proper  relation,  and 
as  many  tones  between  as  possible.  If  the  high- 
est light  and  the  darkest  shadow  are  approxi- 
mately correct  —  the  highest  light  in  the  print 
being  white  paper  and  the  darkest  shadow  being 
the  blackest  deposit  of  silver  or  platinum  our 
print  is  capable  of  giving  —  the  tones  will  look 
right,  even  if  some  of  the  middle  tones  are  miss- 
ing. If  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  shorten  the  scale 
of  tones,  we  must  do  it  by  compression,  rather 
than  by  leaving  out  any  tones  at  the  top  or 
bottom  of  the  scale. 

In  our  attempts  to  secure  simplicity  of  tone 
we  shall  often  find  that  we  do  not  need  to  use 
even  the  full  range  of  the  printing  paper.  A 
picture  can  often  be  adequately  suggestive  when 
very  few  tones  are  used.  In  Wingaersheek  Beach 
(Fig.  19),  there  is  no  black  and  very  little  pure 
white;  the  whole  picture  contains  only  a  few 
tones,  yet  it  suggests  the  scene  under  the  condi- 
tions at  the  time  the  picture  was  taken.  The 
artist  usually  should  be  sparing  in  the  use  of 
absolute  black  and  white,  and  these  should  be 
used,  if  at  all,  only  in  very  small  areas.  An 
accent  of  black  or  white  will  often  strengthen  a 
picture  and  pull  the  tones  together. 

[107] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

In  Fig.  20,  At  the  Close  of  a  Stormy  Day,  the 
light  in  the  sky  is  the  accent  that  strengthens 
the  picture,  just  as  the  dark  line  at  the  horizon 
is  the  accent  in  Wingaersheek  Beach.  Without 
these  accents,  one  light  and  one  dark,  the  pic- 
tures would  be  monotonous  and  lacking  in 
strength  and  interest.  This  same  principle  is 
often  exemplified  in  Will  Cadby's  delicate  studies 
in  light  tones:  there  is  invariably  one  dark  accent 
in  the  picture  that  pulls  the  tones  together. 

Simplicity  of  tone  must  not  degenerate  into 
monotony  and  an  accent,  black  or  white,  will 
prevent  this.  It  will  provide  a  standard  to  which 
all  the  other  tones  will  correlate.  As  an  example 
of  this  let  us  refer  to  Fig.  14,  and  imagine  what 
this  would  be  like  without  the  dark  accent  pro- 
vided by  the  necktie.  The  flesh  tones  would  then 
appear  I  too  dark  in  comparison  with  the  light 
tones  surrounding  the  face,  but  the  black  tie  cor- 
rects this  tendency  and,  by  its  contrast,  makes 
the  face  appear  to  be  of  about  the  right  tone. 

Simplicity  of  subject  is,  to  a  great  extent,  a 
matter  of  selection.  Simple  subjects  with  good, 
definite  lines  are  the  ones  that  make  the  most 
attractive  pictures,  and  such  subjects  can  be 
found  very  readily  by  one  who  has  learned  to 
see  them.  The  selection  of  the  point  of  view  also 
affects,  to  a  great  extent,  the  simplicity  of  the 
final  result.  Simplicity  of  subject,  being  so  largely 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

a  matter  of  selection,  is  almost  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  picture-maker.  Each  worker  will 
necessarily  have  his  own  choice  in  the  matter  of 
subjects;  to  some,  landscape  pictures  will  make 
a  strong  appeal,  others  may  be  interested  in 
marine  subjects,  harbor  and  shipping  scenes,  surf 
and  rocks,  while  some  will  find  a  great  attraction 
in  human  nature  and  may  devote  themselves  al- 
most exclusively  to  figure  studies,  genre  and  por- 
traiture. But,  though  the  choice  of  subjects  may 
be  varied,  each  in  his  own  particular  line  should 
take  care  that  the  subject  of  the  picture,  what- 
ever it  is,  is  simple.  There  is  a  tendency  among 
"advanced"  pictorialists  to  neglect  the  choice  of 
an  interesting  subject  and  to  trust  to  an  effective 
pattern  to  make  their  pictures  interesting.  Such 
pictures  are  often  interesting,  but  they  are  inter- 
esting more  as  studies  in  artistic  technique  than 
as  pictures. 

In  striving  to  convey  impressions  in  a  picture 
an  artist  must  have  a  certain  amount  of  sym- 
pathy with  and  understanding  of  his  subject. 
There  must  be  a  thorough  grasp  of  the  subject  so 
that  the  artist  can  enter  into  the  spirit  of  it.  If 
you  consider  the  work  of  leading  pictorialists, 
such  as  Mortimer,  Cadby,  Day  or  Mrs.  Kasebier, 
you  will  find  that  each  is  specially  interested  in 
a  special  subject,  in  each  case  a  thoroughly 
worthy  one.  Subject  is  important  in  picture- 

[109] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

making  for,  even  if  a  picture  is  "the  expression  of 
a  theme,"  there  can  be  no  theme  if  there  is  no 
subject,  and  the  subject  should  have  sufficient 
interest  and  importance  to  be  worth  expressing. 
It  should  have  sufficient  character  to  merit  close 
and  intimate  study.  It  should  be  one  that  in- 
terests the  artist  so  that  he  will  be  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  it.  There  should  be  sympathy 
between  the  artist  and  his  subject  for,  if  it  inter- 
ests him,  he  cannot  treat  it  in  an  uninteresting 
manner.  Each  worker  must  choose  his  own  sub- 
jects. Often  an  artist  will  be  sufficiently  inter- 
ested in  many  things  to  express  them  well  in 
pictures,  but,  usually,  there  will  be  one  thing  — 
one  type  of  subject  —  that  makes  a  stronger 
appeal  to  him  than  any  other.  Mortimer  has 
made  many  landscape  pictures  and  figure  studies, 
and  good  ones  too,  but  it  is  pictures  of  the  sea 
that  specially  interest  him.  It  is  a  mistake,  I 
think,  to  imagine  that  a  picture  needs  no  subject, 
that  it  can  be  merely  a  record  of  impressions,  for 
there  must  be  a  subject  before  there  can  be 
impressions. 

The  importance  of  simplicity  must  be  kept  in 
mind  at  all  stages,  from  the  selection  of  the  sub- 
ject to  the  mounting  of  the  finished  print.  Some- 
times certain  conditions  of  atmosphere  are  needed 
in  order  to  simplify  a  subject;  a  background  or 
distance  that  is  too  busy  and  too  full  of  compli- 

[110] 


Fig.  29.     GEORGE,  THE  SCOUT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

cated  detail  can  frequently  be  blotted  out  and 
the  picture  simplified  by  choosing  for  the  expo- 
sure a  day  and  a  time  of  day  when  there  is  a  slight 
mist  or  haze  over  the  distance.  Sometimes  a 
picture  can  be  simplified  by  liberal  trimming  or 
by  enlarging  from  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
negative.  : 

One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  a  photographer 
has  to  overcome  in  making  his  pictures  simple  is 
the  propensity  of  the  lens  to  render  detail  with 
absolute  impartiality.  It  necessarily  makes  no 
discrimination  between  the  essential  and  the  un- 
essential. Everything  in  the  field  of  view  is  de- 
picted with  equal  emphasis,  so  it  is  necessary  for 
the  photographer  to  modify  this  as  far  as  possi- 
ble by  selective  focusing  and  by  careful  selection 
of  the  most  suitable  conditions  of  light  and 
atmosphere.  Selective  focusing  means  getting  the 
important  parts  of  the  picture  a  little  sharper  and 
more  clearly  defined  than  those  that  are  less 
important.  This  can  often  be  done  in  outdoor 
genre  pictures  and  figure  studies  by  focusing  on 
the  figures  and  letting  the  background  be  slightly 
diffused  and  out  of  focus.  This  must  not  be 
carried  too  far,  because  the  difference  in  sharp- 
ness, if  carried  to  extremes,  is  irritating  and  dis- 
turbing to  the  eye  and  thus  defeats  the  object  in 
view.  So,  in  striving  to  get  breadth  and  to  elimi- 
nate fine  detail,  many  ingenious  dodges  have 
[1113 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

been  resorted  to,  such  as  enlarging  through  bolt- 
ing-cloth or  throwing  the  entire  picture  a  little 
out  of  focus  in  making  the  enlargement.  Possi- 
bly the  best  way  to  get  breadth  and  carrying 
power  without  destroying  detail  is  by  the  proper 
use  of  a  semi-achromatic  lens.  Such  a  lens  will 
render  detail  clearly,  yet  without  the  insistent 
and  biting  harshness  of  an  anastigmat.  It  will 
give  a  more  gradual  blending  of  definition  with- 
out an  abrupt  change  from  sharpness  to  absolute 
lack  of  sharpness,  which  is  unnatural  and  disturb- 
ing. There  are  none  of  the  disconcerting  halos 
and  grotesque  distortions  of  out-of-focus  objects 
which  are  sometimes  seen  when  using  a  fully 
corrected  lens  at  a  large  aperture. 

In  portraiture  and  figure  studies  there  is  very 
little  excuse  for  lack  of  simplicity,  for  the  subject 
and  its  arrangement  are  almost  entirely  under 
the  control  of  the  artist.  If  the  background  is 
not  sufficiently  simple,  he  can  make  it  so,  either 
by  a  change  of  position  or  location  in  an  outdoor 
picture,  or  by  removing  unneeded  objects  from 
the  background  if  he  is  working  indoors.  Often 
a  picture  on  the  wall  or  an  ornament  or  piece  of 
furniture  comes'in  the  wrong  place  in  the  picture, 
but  it  is  usually  possible  to  remove  it.  The  pose 
of  the  sitter  and  the  disposition  of  the  leading 
lines  can  be  arranged  by  the  photographer  to  a 
very  great  extent,  either  by  suggestion  or  by 
[112] 


Fig.  30.     BUILDING  THE  FIRE 


Fig.  30A.     YOUNG  ARTISTS 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

actual  manipulation.  The  arrangement  of  the 
train  and  veil  in  a  picture  of  a  bride  is  an  example 
of  such  manipulation. 

Simplicity  in  a  portrait  adds  very  much  to  its 
interest  and  charm.  The  face  is  usually  the 
main  object  of  interest  in  such  a  picture,  and  if 
the  face  can  be  seen  easily  and  without  having 
to  search  for  it  carefully  among  a  number  of 
equally  prominent,  though  far  less  important,  de- 
tails, the  picture  will  make  a  stronger  and  more 
direct  appeal.  A  study  of  the  works  of  the  great 
painters  will  show  that  they  fully  appreciated 
the  importance  of  simplicity.  Most  of  Velasquez' 
famous  figure  pictures  are  extremely  simple  and 
so  are  Rembrandt's.  Whistler's  portrait  of  his 
mother  and  the  very  similarly  arranged  portrait 
of  Carlyle  are  both  quite  simple  in  arrangement, 
and  in  line  and  tone,  and  both  are  wonderfully 
effective.  Whistler  and  other  great  artists  real- 
ized not  only  the  importance  of  simplicity,  but 
also  the  fact  that  it  needs  considerable  thought, 
care  and  skill  to  get  this  quality  into  a  picture,  for 
nothing  is  so  difficult  of  achievement  as  simplic- 
ity. The  gift  of  reproducing  it  is  rare;  the  gift 
of  appreciating  it  is  less  so,  but  is  still  far  from 
universal.  There  are  many  photographers  who 
have  not  learned  to  appreciate  the  strength, 
effectiveness  and  restfulness  obtained  in  a  pic- 
ture by  ruthless  elimination  of  the  unessentials. 

[113] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

Profuse  ornamentation,  overadornment,  "fussi- 
ness"  of  every  kind  is  easy  to  accomplish;  but 
simplicity  stands  as  the  desirable  and  difficult 
of  attainment.  Take  as  an  example  not  only 
pictures,  but  anything  from  a  frock  to  a  marble 
palace.  Restful  simplicity  is  the  hardest  note  to 
strike.  The  propensity  of  the  lens  to  include  too 
much  is  one  of  the  important  things  to  guard 
against,  and  the  photographer  has  to  curb  this 
propensity  in  every  way  possible. 

In  using  a  semi-achromatic  lens  to  subdue 
detail,  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  detail  as 
such  is  not  detrimental  to  the  success  of  a  picture, 
and  that  clear  definition  is  not  antagonistic  to 
pictorial  results.  Detail  is  not  detrimental  unless 
it  destroys  simplicity,  and  clear  definition  is 
eminently  desirable.  Some  of  the  best  examples 
of  painting,  especially  miniature  painting,  show 
exquisite  detail  and  this  is  considered  to  be  a 
special  merit,  but  in  such  works  of  art  the  draw- 
ing of  detail  is  done  with  discrimination;  the 
important  parts  are  clearly  drawn,  the  unim- 
portant parts  either  slurred  over  or  suggested, 
and  the  unnecessary  parts  and  redundant  detail 
are  left  out.  The  lens  draws  fine  detail  every- 
where, the  unimportant  parts  being  treated  with 
the  same  care  and  precision  as  the  important 
parts,  without  discrimination,  and  this  is  its  weak 
point.  The  artist  does  not  object  to  fine  detail, 

[114] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

but  to  the  lack  of  discrimination  of  the  lens  in 
drawing  it.  Stop  down  an  anastigmat  lens  and 
everything  is  sharp;  use  it  at  a  large  aperture, 
focusing  the  point  of  interest,  and  the  streak  of 
definition  runs  right  across  the  picture  from  edge 
to  edge.  Both  methods  are  undesirable,  and  the 
nearest  approach  to  discrimination  in  the  draw- 
ing of  detail  is  provided  by  the  soft-focus,  semi- 
achromatic  lens,  which,  if  used  intelligently  and 
with  a  due  appreciation  of  its  limitations,  will 
give  the  artist  something  approaching  the  quality 
he  desires.  With  such  a  lens  one  can  get  clear 
definition  that  is  not  sharp  or  hard,  for  there  is 
a  difference  between  clearness  and  sharpness. 
Clear  is  defined  as  "pure,  bright,  undimmed,  with- 
out blemish,  transparent,"  as,  for  example,  a 
clear  day,  clear-cut  features,  clear  water,  clear 
definition.  The  word  sharp  means,  "having  a 
thin  cutting  edge,  affecting  the  senses  as  if 
pointed  or  cutting,  severe,  keen,  barely  honest, 
shrill."  Examples:  a  sharp  wind,  sharp  words, 
sharp  practice,  a  sharp,  shrill  voice,  sharp 
definition. 

The  quality  of  definition  obtained  by  the  use 
of  a  soft-focus  lens  should  never  be  allowed  to 
degenerate  into  fuzziness;  there  should  always 
be  firmness  and  certainty  in  modeling  and  tex- 
tures. The  clearness  and  coherency  of  a  picture 
depend  to  some  extent  upon  the  tones  and  grada- 

[115] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

tions  as  well  as  upon  the  quality  of  definition, 
and  the  degree  of  softness  in  the  definition  must 
be  governed  a  good  deal  by  the  size  of  the  picture. 
Clearer  definition  is  demanded  in  a  small  picture 
that  is  to  be  examined  closely  than  in  one  that 
would  be  large  enough  to  hang  on  the  wall,  not 
to  inspect  at  close  quarters.  As  long  as  the  pic- 
ture closes  up  and  becomes  clear  and  coherent 
at  a  little  distance,  it  cannot  rightly  be  stigma- 
tized as  "fuzzy." 

Closely  allied  to  simplicity  is  a  quality  that  we 
can  best  describe  as  restraint.  Personal  restraint 
avoids  over-elaboration  and  over-expression;  so- 
cial restraint  leads  the  artist  to  avoid  subjects 
and  methods  that  might  be  displeasing  to  others, 
and  artistic  restraint  never  oversteps  the  limita- 
tions of  the  medium. 

I  was  out  on  a  tramp  one  day  with  a  troop  of 
boy  scouts.  One  of  the  boys  was  a  little  more 
energetic,  a  little  more  alert  and  more  observant 
than  the  others,  and  he  was  very  much  in  evi- 
dence on  this  trip.  George  is  very  much  inter- 
ested in  scouting  and  all  that  is  connected  with 
it,  and  he  has  the  happy  knack  of  making  the 
most  of  his  opportunities.  On  this  walk  George 
discovered  a  woodchuck's  hole  when  no  one  else 
saw  it.  He  knew  what  it  was  and  looked  around 
for  the  other  hole,  for  he  knew  there  would  be 
two  of  them.  The  result  was  that  George  at- 

[116] 


Fig.  31.     READY  FOR  THE  PARTY 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

traded  more  attention  than  any  other  scout,  and 
my  recollections  of  that  trip  are  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  George's  energy  and  enthusiasm,  and 
the  pleasure  and  profit  he  derived  from  the  out- 
ing. In  a  symphony  or  concerto  or  other  musical 
work  there  is  usually  one  theme  or  motive  that 
runs  through  the  entire  composition.  In  a  melo- 
drama there  is  usually  one  scene  that  forms  the 
climax  of  the  play,  and  in  a  well-constructed 
short  story  there  is  one  incident  or  one  situation 
that  holds  the  interest  and  attention.  All  these 
things  are  examples  of  the  law  of  principality, 
and  in  picture-making  we  find  the  same  principle 
used  to  secure  unity  of  interest  and  to  provide 
a  point  of  focus  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon. 

We  have  seen  that  it  is  essential  to  have  only 
one  principal  object  of  interest  in  a  picture. 
Without  it  the  picture  is  not  completely  satisfy- 
ing, for  the  eye  is  apt  to  wander  over  the  surface 
of  the  picture,  seeking  rest  and  finding  none. 

If  the  principal  object  of  interest  in  a  land- 
scape is  not  sufficiently  prominent  to  take  its 
proper  place  in  the  picture  as  the  point  of  focus 
for  the  eye  to  rest  upon,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
emphasize  it,  so  that  it  will  be  unmistakably  evi- 
dent that  it  is  the  principal  object  in  the  picture, 
and  to  make  it  so  by  any  legitimate  means  at  our 
disposal.  Sometimes  there  are  so  many  different 
things  in  a  landscape  that  it  is  hard  to  tell  just 

[117] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

which  is  the  principal  object,  and  it  is  necessary 
to  emphasize  one  in  the  picture.  Another  reason 
why  emphasis  is  often  necessary  is  that  the  human 
vision  is  stereoscopic  and  the  object  we  are  look- 
ing at  stands  out  from  its  surroundings,  but  an 
ordinary  camera  with  only  one  lens  sees  every- 
thing without  any  stereoscopic  relief,  and  objects 
are  sometimes  apt  to  sink  into  the  background 
and  not  appear  as  prominent  in  a  picture  as  we 
thought  they  were.  The  lack  of  color  sometimes 
robs  an  object  of  much  of  its  prominence.  Then, 
also,  the  eye  sees  only  a  very  narrow  angle  com- 
pared with  an  average  lens.  When  the  eye  is 
fixed  on  one  particular  object  in  a  landscape,  it 
will  see  only  about  2°  or  3°  clearly,  while  the  lens 
can  see  about  45°.  The  eye,  unlike  the  lens, 
has  a  human  brain  behind  it  and  sees  just  what 
the  brain  is  interested  in,  ignoring  everything  else. 
When  the  eye  is  fixed  on  one  object,  everything 
else  is  blurred  and  out  of  focus.  It  is  really  re- 
markable how  differently  two  people  can  see  the 
same  things  when  their  interests  are  different. 
George,  the  scout,  for  instance,  would  probably 
see  all  kinds  of  things  that  I  would  not  see,  if  we 
were  out  together,  and  perhaps,  if  I  were  think- 
ing about  pictures,  I  would  see  some  things  that 
he  would  not  notice  at  all.  Our  interests  would 
be  different,  and  different  messages  would  be 
telegraphed  from  the  brain  to  the  eye. 

[118] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

Therefore,  it  will  be  obvious  that  in  order  to 
make  an  object  sufficiently  prominent  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to  emphasize  it  in  a  picture  so 
that  it  will  unmistakably  be  the  chief  point  of 
focus. 

Emphasis  can  be  obtained  in  many  different 
ways;  by  isolation,  by  the  elimination  of  every- 
thing else  that  might  compete  with  the  principal 
object,  by  the  position  of  the  principal  object  in 
the  picture-space,  by  the  radiation  of  lines  lead- 
ing the  eye  directly  to  the  principal  object,  by 
contrast  of  tone,  and  so  on.  The  little  child  in 
Plum  Island  (Fig.  13)  is  obviously  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  interest  in  the  picture.  He  is  the  only 
human  being  in  sight,  he  is  placed  in  a  strong 
position  in  the  picture-space,  the  line  of  the  surf 
leads  the  eye  directly  to  him  and  he  is  strongly 
emphasized  by  contrast  in  tone.  Thus  we  have, 
in  this  picture,  a  definite  object  to  provide  a 
resting  place  for  the  eye  and  to  prevent  it  from 
wandering  outside  the  picture  margins,  and  a 
feeling  of  unity  is  established. 

In  a  portrait  the  face  is  usually  the  chief  point 
of  interest  and  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  subor- 
dinate everything  else  to  this  one  thing.  That  is 
one  reason  why  it  is  always  necessary  to  con- 
sider very  carefully  the  position  of  the  face  in 
the  picture-space.  We  can  subordinate  the  rest 
of  the  picture  because,  when  we  are  looking  at 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

a  person's  face,  we  can  see  very  little  else  and 
are  only  dimly  aware  of  the  details  in  the  clothing. 
In  a  landscape  in  which  there  are  many  differ- 
ent objects,  the  one  thing  that  we  are  looking 
at  and  thinking  about  is  the  thing  we  must  em- 
phasize, because  we  shall  find  that,  though  this 
object  appears  to  be  quite  prominent  when  we 
are  looking  at  it,  in  the  photograph  everything 
that  is  in  the  same  plane  will  be  rendered  im- 
partially and  with  equal  emphasis.  When  the 
eye  is  fixed  on  one  particular  object  in  a  land- 
scape, the  highlights  and  shadows  acquire  an 
importance  that  makes  them  appear  stronger 
than  they  really  are  and,  unless  the  principal 
object  is  already  sufficiently  differentiated,  like 
the  child  in  Plum  Island,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
strengthen  a  highlight  or  a  shadow  in  order  to 
make  it  so.  Of  course,  if  the  object  is  already 
quite  prominent,  if  it  is  something  that  would 
naturally  stand  out  from  other  objects,  like  the 
puff  of  steam  in  The  Harlem  River  (Fig.  11),  or 
the  white  sail  in  Starting  Out  (Fig.  12),  no  modi- 
fication of  the  highlights  or  shadows  is  necessary, 
as  they  are  already  strong  enough.  When  addi- 
tional emphasis  is  needed,  it  can  often  be  obtained 
by  a  slight  modification  of  the  negative  or  by 
control  in  printing.  This  must  never  be  over- 
done, and  it  will  be  found  that  just  the  very 
least  darkening  of  a  shadow  or  the  slightest  rais- 

[120] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

ing  of  a  highlight  will  be  all  that  is  necessary.  It 
is  in  this  respect  that  the  pigment  printing  proc- 
esses offer  great  facilities,  though  in  some  re- 
spects this  very  facility  is  a  disadvantage.  It 
is  so  easy  to  modify  such  prints  that  the  hand- 
work is  often  overdone,  with  disastrous  results. 
Manipulation  of  this  kind  may  be  regarded  as 
being  perfectly  legitimate,  for  it  is  only  carrying 
out  the  idea  of  the  mechanics  of  suggestion  in  a 
reasonable  way.  Such  actual  manipulation  as 
this  is  not  needed  in  many  pictures,  for  selective 
focusing,  skilful  placing  in  the  picture-space,  and 
the  selection  of  an  already  prominent  object  will 
give  quite  sufficient  emphasis.  Often,  in  land- 
scape pictures  or  figure  studies  outdoors,  we  can 
emphasize  our  principal  object  or  figure  by  hav- 
ing it  clearly  focused  and  the  rest  of  the  picture 
slightly  less  sharp.  In  some  pictures,  such  as, 
for  instance,  a  flower  study,  where  there  are 
several  similar  objects  in  the  picture,  one  of  them 
may  need  to  be  emphasized  by  strengthening  the 
light  and  shade  contrasts  a  little. 

The  strength  of  a  highlight  or  a  shadow  depends 
very  much  upon  the  surrounding  tones.  It  is 
possible  to  demonstrate  this  very  easily  and 
very  clearly  by  cutting  from  a  sheet  of  gray  paper 
two  small  squares  or  circles.  If  one  of  them  is 
placed  in  the  middle  of  a  sheet  of  white  paper 
and  the  other  in  the  middle  of  a  sheet  of  black 

[121] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

paper,  the  one  surrounded  by  white  will  look 
darker  than  the  one  surrounded  by  black,  al- 
though we  know  that  they  are  both  exactly  alike. 
We  can  make  use  of  this  illusion  to  modify  a 
tone  or  an  accent.  Sometimes  emphasis  can  be 
secured  by  placing  the  lightest  tone  and  the 
darkest  tone  close  together,  as  in  the  hull  and 
white  sail  in  Starting  Out. 


[122] 


CHAPTER  VI 

Line  Composition  Applied  to  Figure  Studies — The  Vertical  Line 

—  Repetition  of  Line  —  The  Curved  Line  —  The  Lost  Edge 

—  The  Triangle— The  Rectangle— The  S-Shaped  Curve— 
The  Figure  8  — The  Hands  in  Portraiture — The  Placing  of 
the    Head   in   the   Picture   Space — Groups  —  The  Back- 
ground. 

IN  applying  the  principles  of  pictorial  composi- 
tion to  portraiture  and  figure  studies,  we  shall 
be  working  very  much  along  the  same  lines  as 
when  dealing  with  outdoor  subjects,  such  as  land- 
scape and  marine  pictures,  but  as  we  have  more 
plastic  material  to  work  with,  we  have  far  more 
scope  and  can  do  more  in  the  way  of  arrangement 
than  when  using  inanimate  objects.  The  artist 
can  arrange  the  lines  and  masses  in  such  pictures 
according  to  his  own  ideas,  and  should  have  a 
definite  theme  or  motive  in  the  arrangement  that 
will  help  to  make  the  picture  interesting  apart 
from  the  interest  in  the  person  or  the  persons 
depicted.  Instead  of  selecting  his  pictorial  ma- 
terial from  nature,  which  requires  him  to  take 
what  he  can  find  and  make  it  conform  to  his 
ideal  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  the  portrait  pho- 
tographer can,  in  much  the  same  way  as  the 
painter,  arrange  and  build  up  his  composition,  and 
[125] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

construct  the  pattern  of  lines,  masses  and  tones 
more  or  less  as  he  wants  it,  and  when  everything 
is  right,  he  can  photograph  it.  Thus  the  com- 
position in  portraiture  and  figure  studies  may  be 
constructive  rather  than  selective,  though  it  will 
be  found  that  selective  composition  also  plays 
an  important  part  in  portraiture. 

The  lines  of  the  picture  in  a  figure  study  may 
often  be  determined  by  the  placing  of  the  "ac- 
cents" and  are  then  unseen  lines  such  as  were 
referred  to  in  Chapter  II,  that  is  to  say,  not 
actual  outlines  and  edges  of  tone,  but  the  imagi- 
nary lines  by  which  the  eye  will  instinctively 
connect  any  two  prominent  objects  in  the  picture. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  build  up  and  construct 
a  picture  the  artist  should  know  the  rules  and 
recognized  formulae  in  pictorial  arrangement. 
He  need  not  always  adhere  strictly  to  rules,  but 
he  should  know  them  so  that  he  will  know  what 
he  is  doing  when  he  breaks  them. 

The  function  of  composition  is  to  make  a  pic- 
ture interesting,  and  the  disposition  of  the  lines 
in  the  picture,  the  opposition  of  lines,  and  their 
placing  in  the  picture-space  will  all  help  in  giving 
the  desired  interest.  Such  things  as  this,  depend- 
ing as  they  do  upon  the  pose  of  the  figure  and  the 
selection  of  the  viewpoint,  are  to  a  great  extent 
under  the  control  of  the  photographer,  and  a  sug- 
gestion from  him  as  to  the  general  pose,  together 

[124] 


Fig.  32.     AN  OUTDOOR  HOME  PORTRAIT 


,    c  ec.  ,•;.« 

.    '      ,    r      9        «    • 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

with  the  proper  placing  of  the  camera  at  the  right 
distance  and  at  the  right  height,  will  often  give 
a  line  arrangement  that  is  satisfactory. 

The  simplest  pose  of  all  is  the  full-length,  stand- 
ing figure.  This  has  great  possibilities,  because 
the  most  attractive  and  commanding  line  in  art 
is  the  vertical.  The  full-length  standing  pose  is 
an  obvious  and  natural  one  for  the  human  figure, 
because  in  this  position  it  occupies  almost  double 
the  space  it  would  if  seated.  There  is,  however, 
a  serious  objection  to  this  method  of  represent- 
ing the  figure.  This  is  the  monotony  and  regu- 
larity, as  well  as  the  suggestion  of  the  picture- 
space  being  divided  into  strips,  caused  by  the  two 
oblong  spaces  on  either  side  of  the  subject.  This 
can  be  overcome  very  simply  and  easily  by  the 
introduction  of  an  opposing  horizontal  line  or 
oblique  line  to  tie  the  figure  to  the  edges  of  the 
picture-space  and  give  a  suggestion  of  a  cross  or 
a  triangle. 

This  principle  is  illustrated  in  the  two  portraits, 
Figs.  21  and  22.  In  both  cases  we  have  a  full- 
length  standing  figure  strongly  contrasting  with 
the  background,  and  a  very  similar  line  arrange- 
ment may  be  observed  in  each.  The  extended 
arm  with  the  hand  on  the  doorknob  in  Fig.  21 
makes  a  strong  enough  line  and,  similarly,  in 
Fig.  22  the  boy's  arm  has  the  same  effect.  The 
placing  of  the  figures,  a  little  out  of  the  exact 

[125] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

centre  of  the  picture-space,  gets  rid  of  the  effect 
of  similar  vertical  strips  on  each  side  of  the  figure. 
In  Fig.  23,  the  extended  palette  furnishes  the 
opposing  vertical,  as  an  accent  rather  than  as  a 
line,  and  in  this  instance  the  merging  of  the  out- 
line into  the  background  also  helps  to  lessen  the 
force  of  the  vertical  line. 

The  repetition  of  a  line  in  another  part  of  the 
picture  dissipates  the  force  of  such  a  line.  In 
both  Fig.  21  and  Fig.  22  we  see  this  exemplified 
in  the  edge  of  the  door  and  in  the  light  tree  trunk. 
Without  some  balancing  influence  of  opposing 
lines  or  prominent  accents,  a  vertical  composition 
is  apt  to  be  weak  and  far  from  interesting. 

Sometimes  a  suggestion  of  a  simple  curve 
makes  a  pleasing  line  arrangement.  In  Fig.  24, 
we  can  feel  a  curve  from  the  head  to  the  hands. 
The  head,  because  of  its  placing  in  the  picture- 
space,  is  obviously  the  main  object  of  interest, 
and  is  adequately  balanced  by  the  hands,  which 
form  the  only  other  light  mass  in  the  picture. 

The  device  of  losing  the  outline  is  one  that  is 
often  employed  by  painters  to  lessen  the  insist- 
ence of  lines.  It  is  simply  a  method  of  simplifi- 
cation by  elimination;  by  merging  the  contour 
into  the  background  we  make  the  substance  of 
the  body  a  part  of  the  tone  which  envelops  it. 
The  line  then  becomes  the  unseen  line  rather  than 
an  actual,  structural  outline.  By  careful  selec- 

[126] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

tion  of  a  background  of  the  right  tone,  and  by 
creating  shadows  on  the  background,  a  photog- 
rapher can  often  avail  himself  of  this  device  as 
has  been  done  in  Figs.  23  and  24  and  in  some 
others. 

In  the  effort  to  make  the  subject  fill  the  space, 
the  artist  often  has  recourse  to  another  of  the 
fundamental  forms  of  construction,  the  triangle. 
This  is  in  many  ways  one  of  the  easiest  arrange- 
ments to  secure  in  a  picture,  and  it  has  the  merit 
of  being  not  only  an  excellent  space-filler,  but 
also  one  that  is  capable  of  almost  unhmited 
variety.  It  may  take  the  form  of  a  long  upright 
pyramid,  as  in  Fig.  25,  or  of  a  more  stable  tri- 
angle with  a  broader  base.  In  any  case  it  affords 
a  shape  endowed  with  physical  stability,  and  it 
allows  the  lines  of  the  subject  to  tie  with  the  sides 
of  the  picture.  This  does  away  with  the  difficulty 
of  dealing  with  the  spaces  left  at  the  sides  of  the 
figure,  for  these  spaces,  instead  of  being  rectangu- 
lar, become  triangular.  Thus  we  get  the  relief 
experienced  by  the  introduction  of  similar,  echo- 
ing shapes;  repetition  with  variety.  Ah*  that  is 
necessary  to  secure  such  a  scheme  of  lines  is  to 
broaden  out  the  lines  of  the  figure  in  some  natural 
way  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture.  In  a  seated 
figure,  as  in  Fig.  6,  all  that  has  to  be  done  is  to 
get  one  hand  as  far  forward  and  the  other  as  far 
back  as  possible,  thus  getting  three  accents  indi- 

[127] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

eating  the  angles  of  the  triangle.  Other  variations 
of  the  triangular  arrangement  are  shown  in  Figs.  10 
and  3.  In  Fig.  10,  the  light  mass  of  the  child's 
dress  forms  a  very  definite  triangular  area,  and 
Fig.  3  is  all  triangles. 

Another  frequently  used  line  arrangement  is  the 
rectangle,  of  which  an  example  is  shown  in  Fig. 
26.  This  differs  from  the  cross  and  the  triangle 
in  that  it  has  not  in  itself  the  qualities  necessary 
to  give  the  required  balance,  and  so  depends  for 
balance  upon  some  object  within  the  angle,  which 
can  usually  be  supplied  by  something  in  the  back- 
ground. In  the  example  given,  the  balance  is 
supplied  by  the  light  spots  on  the  background 
and  the  little  strip  of  white  below  the  collar. 
These  are  comparatively  unimportant  in  them- 
selves, yet,  without  them,  the  composition  would 
be  somewhat  lacking  in  balance.  They  furnish 
the  needed  attraction  within  the  angle  and  be- 
cause of  their  unobtrusiveness  they  do  not  pull 
too  much. 

In  portraiture,  just  as  in  landscape  work,  a 
curve  has  in  itself  greater  possibilities  for  beauty 
than  any  arrangement  of  straight  lines.  A  simple 
curve,  or  the  more  complete  S-shaped  curve, 
which  is,  as  we  have  seen,  an  excellent  space- 
filler,  often  can  be  incorporated  in  the  lines  of  a 
figure  picture.  Such  a  line,  either  the  curved 
S-line  or  the  more  angular  Z-form,  not  only  fills 

[128] 


Fig.  33.     IN  THE  STUDIO 


,-,  :s  ;:•.:•«•••••: 

c    c    c  c 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  space  satisfactorily,  but  also  ties  the  subject 
very  well  to  the  sides  of  the  picture-space.  With 
either  of  these  forms  there  is  very  little  depend- 
ence upon  the  background  for  balance,  for  both 
have  sufficient  balance  in  themselves.  As  a  line, 
the  letter  S  is  so  complete  that  the  feeling  among 
artists  is,  when  possible,  to  let  it  alone.  Such  a 
line  can  often  be  used  for  full-length  standing 
figures,  and  it  may  also  be  found  in  pictures 
showing  only  the  head.  In  Fig.  5  we  have  an 
example  of  the  use  of  this  line,  which  can  easily 
be  traced  in  the  outline  of  the  head  and  face  and 
up  to  the  hand  and  flower.  This  line  has  the 
valuable  quality  of  suggesting  movement  and  of 
giving  a  semblance  of  life  and  energy.  In  this 
respect  it  differs  from  the  simple  curve,  which  is 
essentially  a  line  of  repose.  It  also  conveys  an 
idea  of  unity  and  completeness. 

Sometimes  we  can  get  an  elaboration  of  the 
S-shaped  curve,  taking  the  form  of  a  figure  eight, 
such  as  is  seen  in  Fig.  27  (Frontispiece).  This  is 
a  scheme  that  might  easily  be  worked  out  iri 
portraits  of  ladies  in  evening  dress. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  use  of  the  hands  in  a 
portrait  as  accents  and  points  of  direction  for 
the  unseen  line.  Though  it  adds  to  the  difficul- 
ties, I  think  it  is  advisable  to  show  one  or  both 
hands  in  a  portrait,  provided  they  can  be  treated 
naturally  and  gracefully.  A  really  natural  hand, 

£129] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

one  that  has  not  been  obviously  arranged  by  the 
photographer,  is  a  valuable  asset  in  showing 
character.  If  the  self-consciousness  of  the  sitter 
is  such  that  the  hand  is  not  entirely  natural,  it 
is  better  to  leave  it  out  altogether,  for  a  bad  hand 
will  rum  an  otherwise  attractive  portrait.  Some- 
times it  is  necessary  to  give  the  hands  something 
to  do  or  something  to  hold,  as  in  Figs.  23,  5  and  6. 
In  Fig.  23,  the  hand  holding  the  paintbrush  shows 
considerable  energy  and  is  obviously  natural. 
Sometimes  the  photographer  has  to  change  the 
position  of  the  hand  a  little  to  make  it  photo- 
graph better,  and  with  some  people  the  necessary 
changes  can  be  made  without  loss  of  naturalness, 
provided  it  is  done  tactfully  and  without  drawing 
too  much  attention  to  the  hand.  Making  the 
sitter  conscious  of  the  hand  usually  results  in 
awkardness,  and  a  stiffness  and  woodenness  in 
the  pose  that  is  very  disagreeable. 

As  a  rule  a  hand  will  photograph  better,  and 
without  giving  cause  for  the  complaint  that  it 
looks  too  big,  if  it  is  turned  with  one  side  towards 
the  lens,  not  showing  the  full  width.  If  a  lady  is 
photographed  with  her  hand  in  her  lap,  turn  the 
hand  so  that  it  is  lying  with  the  palm  upwards 
and  it  will  look  more  graceful.  The  fingers  should 
not  be  folded,  which  will  make  the  hand  look  like 
a  clenched  fist,  neither  should  they  be  too  much 
spread  apart.  Just  as  a  suggestion,  it  is  often  a 

[130] 


Fig.  34.     JIMMIE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

good  plan  to  rest  the  thumb  against  the  second 
finger  and  have  the  other  fingers  curved  a  little, 
but  not  too  much.  This  will  give  an  arrangement 
that  will  look  well  from  almost  any  position. 
Sometimes  the  hand  can  be  used  to  support  the 
head,  but  this  should  not  be  done  unless  the 
pose  is  quite  natural  and  characteristic.  Never 
deliberately  arrange  such  a  pose,  but  if,  during 
the  proceedings,  the  sitter  should  happen  to 
adopt  such  a  position  quite  unconsciously  and 
naturally,  photograph  it  just  as  it  is,  provided  it 
looks  well.  The  hand  supporting  the  face  should, 
if  possible,  be  on  the  shadow  side,  away  from  the 
camera,  though,  as  is  the  case  in  Fig.  28,  this  is 
not  an  infallible  rule.  In  this  the  obvious  na- 
turalness of  the  hand  offsets  its  possible  lack  of 
grace.  Personally  I  think  that  a  portrait  in 
which  the  hands  are  not  shown  is  incomplete, 
unless  of  course  it  is  a  large  head,  and,  although 
it  sometimes  adds  to  the  difficulties,  it  is  always 
worth  while  to  make  an  effort  to  include  a  natural 
and  well-drawn  hand,  or  both  hands,  in  the 
picture  whenever  possible  to  do  so. 

There  is  a  distinct  tendency  in  modern  por- 
traiture to  devote  the  greater  part  of  the  pic- 
ture space  to  the  head  and  face.  Certainly  a 
large-sized  head  will  command  more  attention  and, 
as  the  likeness  is  mainly  though  by  no  means 
entirely  shown  by  the  face,  a  large  head  will  tell 
[131] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

its  story  plainly,  and  will  give  greater  opportuni- 
ties for  showing  the  features  in  clearer  and  more 
perfect  detail.  It  might  be  thought  that  a  pic- 
ture that  includes  only  the  head  and  shoulders 
would  be  easier  to  make  and  would  demand  less 
skill  in  posing,  but  I  think  that  just  as  much 
thought,  care  and  skill  are  needed  to  pose  for  a 
head  as  to  pose  for  a  full-length  or  three-quarter 
figure.  Possibly  the  composition  is  simpler,  but 
the  problems  of  filling  the  space  adequately  and 
of  getting  a  suggestion  of  character,  personality 
and  likeness  are  practically  unchanged. 

Unless  the  head  is  set  naturally  and  easily  on 
the  shoulders,  there  will  be  a  suggestion  of  con- 
straint and  stiffness  in  the  pose,  which  will  de- 
stroy likeness.  Let  us  look  at  Fig.  29.  The 
forward-leaning  position  is  characteristic  and 
natural,  thoroughly  typical  of  this  young  sitter. 
Other  examples  of  natural  and  characteristic  poise 
of  the  head  are  shown  in  other  examples. 

In  making  a  large  head,  we  may  select  a  point 
of  view  that  will  show  the  full  face,  a  three- 
quarter  view,  or  a  profile,  and  of  these  three, 
probably  the  three-quarter  view  is  the  most  ex- 
pressive and  the  most  agreeable,  on  account  of 
the  variety  it  introduces  in  the  lines  of  the  neck 
and  shoulders.  The  full-face  view  gives  less 
agreeable  lines  with  less  variety  and  balance  than 
the  three-quarter  view,  but  sometimes  the  direct 
[132] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

gaze  results  in  a  more  forceful  and  more  compel- 
ling picture,  while  the  profile  often  gives  an  op- 
portunity to  get  a  very  interesting  continuous 
line.  Fig.  14  is  regarded  by  the  boy's  friends  as 
a  good  likeness,  and  the  outline  of  the  head  and 
face  is  decidedly  interesting. 

The  placing  of  the  head  in  the  picture-space 
must  be  carefully  considered.  In  a  direct  profile 
picture,  it  is  always  well  to  have  more  space  in 
front  of  the  face  than  behind  the  head.  In  any 
picture  showing  only  the  head  and  shoulders,  if 
the  sitter  is  leaning  forward,  it  is  necessary  to 
leave  sufficient  space  at  the  top  to  make  us  feel 
that  there  is  enough  room  for  him  to  raise  his 
head  and  straighten  up  without  hitting  the  top 
edge  of  the  picture.  A  very  erect  and  upright 
pose  needs  only  a  very  little  space  at  the  top, 
above  the  head.  The  trimming  of  the  print  and 
the  amount  of  space  around  the  head  will  be 
taken  up  in  detail  elsewhere,  but  in  making  large 
heads  there  will  be  a  loss  of  dignity  and  impor- 
tance if  the  face  is  too  low  in  the  picture-space. 
Too  much  space  at  the  top  will  be  apt  to  give 
the  impression  that  the  sitter  is  sliding  out  at 
the  bottom  of  the  picture. 

Another  reason  why  the  head  should  be  kept 
well  up  near  the  top  is  that  the  eyes  in  a  portrait, 
being  the  centre  of  interest,  must  not  be  too  low 
in  the  picture-space.  They  should  always  be 

[133] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

well  above  the  middle  and,  if  too  much  space 
were  left  above  the  head,  the  line  of  the  eyes 
might  coincide  with,  or  even  be  a  little  below,  a 
horizontal  line  through  the  centre  of  the  picture- 
space.  It  is  not  generally  known  by  those  who 
have  not  studied  drawing  that  the  eyes  are, 
normally,  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  face,  and 
that  the  space  below  the  eyes  to  the  point  of  the 
chin  is  equal  to  the  space  above  the  eyes  to  the 
top  of  the  head.  So,  if  the  head  be  represented 
as  an  egg-shaped  area,  the  eyes  will  be  situated 
on  a  line  exactly  bisecting  the  area  in  a  horizontal 
direction,  and  there  will  be  just  as  much  space 
above  the  eyes  as  there  is  below.  Therefore,  if 
the  eyes  are  to  be  above  the  middle  of  the  pic- 
ture, as  is  generally  desirable,  to  give  them  force 
and  prominence,  the  head  must  be  well  raised  in 
the  picture-space  and,  if  held  erect,  may  well  be 
quite  near  the  top. 

Sometimes,  and  especially  when  the  sitter  is 
wearing  a  hat,  it  is  necessary  even  to  cut  into  the 
head  or  the  hat  to  prevent  the  eyes  from  being 
too  low.  This  has  been  done  in  Fig.  28.  Trim- 
ming like  this,  which  actually  cuts  away  a  part 
of  the  image,  must  be  done  carefully,  and  only 
when  there  is  a  perfectly  good  reason  for  it,  as 
in  the  example  shown.  The  tendency  to  imitate 
the  methods  of  other  artists  must  always  be 
governed  by  a  careful  investigation  as  to  the 

[134] 


Fig.  35.     THE  DAY  AFTER  CHRISTMAS  . 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

reasons  why  they  do  certain  things.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  chop  off  part  of  the  head  in  a  picture, 
just  because  Coburn  or  Diihrkoop  have  done  it 
in  certain  instances,  unless  you  are  sure  that 
your  reason  for  doing  it  is  just  as  good  as  theirs. 
The  dissatisfaction  often  voiced  in  regard  to  what 
is  known  as  artistic  photography  is  usually  due 
to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  pictures  in  ques- 
tion are  really  anything  but  artistic,  copying,  as 
they  do,  perhaps,  some  of  the  mannerisms  asso- 
ciated with  the  photographs  of  a  true  artist,  but 
lacking  the  qualities  which  formed  the  basis  of 
the  real  worth  of  the  pictures.  To  make  pictures 
that  are  fuzzy  and  blurred,  just  because  some 
photographers  sometimes  use  a  soft-focus  lens  in 
order  to  get  a  certain  desired  effect,  and  then  to 
label  them  artistic  photographs,  when  they  often 
possess  little  or  no  artistic  merit,  is  as  foolish  as 
it  is  futile.  So,  if  the  trimming  of  the  picture  or 
the  arrangement  of  the  subject  in  the  picture- 
space  is  in  any  way  unconventional,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  there  should  be  a  good  and  satisfactory 
reason  for  such  departure  from  the  beaten  track. 
In  making  large  heads,  if  direct  prints  are 
wanted  rather  than  enlargements,  a  long-focus  lens 
must  be  used  in  order  to  get  the  required  size, 
rather  than  a  near  viewpoint.  This  point  is  dealt 
with  in  Chapter  II.  If  a  lens  of  sufficient  focal 
length  is  not  available,  the  artist  must  be  content 

[135] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

i 

to  make  the  head  small  on  the  negative,  and 
then  enlarge  the  portion  he  wants  to  the  required 
size,  for  the  viewpoint  should  rarely  be  closer 
than  seven  or  eight  feet. 

In  making  group  pictures,  the  same  principles 
regarding  lines  and  spacing  must  be  applied. 
Sometimes,  if  there  are  three  or  more  figures  in 
the  group,  they  can  be  arranged  in  such  a  way 
that  a  line  connecting  the  heads,  hands  or  other 
accents  will  form  a  triangle,  a  circle,  an  ellipse, 
or  some  other  agreeable  shape  that  fills  the  space 
in  a  pleasing  manner. 

In  Fig.  30,  the  four  boys  at  the  left  of  the  pic- 
ture give  a  suggestion  of  a  triangle  and  easily 
hold  the  attention,  the  little  fellow  on  the  right 
being  a  secondary  object  of  interest  necessary  to 
give  good  pictorial  balance. 

You  will  notice  I  said  in  a  preceding  paragraph: 
"If  there  are  three  or  more  figures  in  the  group," 
and  this  is  an  important  point,  for  a  group  of 
two  is  very  hard  to  handle  pictorially.  If  both 
are  equally  prominent,  there  will  be  competition 
and  a  constant  effort  to  decide  which  is  more 
important.  In  order  to  get  principality  in  a 
group  of  two,  one  of  the  figures  must  be  unmis- 
takably more  important  and  must  dominate  the 
picture.  In  a  group  consisting  of  a  mother  and 
child,  the  mother  should  be  content  to  occupy  a 
subordinate  position  in  the  picture,  in  order  that 

[136] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  interest  may  be  concentrated  on  the  child. 
One  of  the  most  charming  of  Sargent's  paintings 
shows  a  boy  being  read  to  by  his  mother.  The 
mother  sits,  behind  and  to  the  side,  so  that  the 
interest  is  centered  on  the  child,  who  sits  gazing 
dreamily  out  of  the  picture,  completely  absorbed 
in  the  story.  Such  a  picture  as  this  might  more 
correctly  be  classified  as  a  genre  than  as  a  por- 
trait, and  this  seems  to  be  the  solution  of  most 
problems  of  two-figure  arrangement. 

If  both  figures  can  be  interested  in  something 
in  the  picture,  this  will  solve  the  problems  of 
principality  and  subordination,  for  then  the  thing 
they  are  looking  at,  or  their  occupation,  will 
dominate  the  picture,  and  both  figures  will  be 
subordinate.  In  the  group  shown  in  Fig.  30  A,  the 
occupation  of  the  boys  is  the  dominating  interest, 
and  the  lack  of  principality  is  not  strongly  felt. 
There  is  unity,  due  to  the  fact  that  neither  figure 
appears  to  be  striving  for  prominence  and  prin- 
cipality. 

The  background  in  a  portrait  or  a  figure  study 
must  be  carefully  considered,  for  the  background 
not  only  serves  as  a  support,  but  also  helps  to  a 
large  extent  in  carrying  out  the  motive  of  the 
picture.  It  can  very  materially  influence  the  im- 
portance of  the  figure,  and  can  make  or  mar  the 
composition  and  artistic  unity  of  the  picture. 
The  extent  or  area  of  the  background  in  relation 

[137] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

to  the  size  of  the  figure  is  a  point  that  is  some- 
times hard  to  decide.  Just  how  much  sur- 
rounding space  does  a  figure  needP  This  can  be 
determined  only  by  the  good  taste  and  cultivated 
judgment  of  the  artist,  for  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  give  any  hard  and  fast  rules.  All  that  can 
be  said  is  that  there  should  not  be  too  much 
space,  or  it  will  be  apt  to  dwarf  the  figure,  and 
there  should  not  be  too  little,  for  then  the  figure 
will  look  cramped  and  crowded.  Somewhere  be- 
tween these  two  extremes  the  background  will 
look  right,  and  it  looks  right  when  it  is  least 
noticeable,  when  it  becomes  subordinate  to  the 
figure,  and  does  not  attract  attention  to  itself. 
In  the  illustrations  to  this  chapter  it  will  be 
seen  that  in  nearly  all  of  them  the  background 
is  quite  plain  and  quiet  in  tone,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  at  all  in  it  to  attract  the  eye.  In  these 
instances  the  background  serves  merely  as  a  sup- 
port for  the  figure,  and  plays  no  part  in  carrying 
out  the  motive.  In  Fig.  23,  the  canvases  on  the 
wall,  like  the  palette  and  paintbrush,  help  to  tell 
the  story,  and  to  make  it  plain  that  the  picture 
is  a  portrait  of  a  painter.  Therefore  they  have  a 
definite  meaning  and  are  a  necessary  part  of  the 
picture.  There  are  times  when  a  more  extensive 
background  and  one  that  is  not  quite  plain  will 
help  the  picture.  One  of  the  interesting  aspects 
of  home-portraiture  is  the  opportunity  it  affords 

[138] 


Fig.  36.     SWAPPING  PICTURES 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  introduce  into  the  picture  some  of  the  home 
interest.  This  can  be  done  by  including  in  the 
portrait  a  part  of  the  home,  in  the  shape  of  inti- 
mate surroundings  that  will  be  instantly  recog- 
nized by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  home  in 
question.  If  a  setting  can  be  found  that  is  inter- 
esting and  attractive  by  reason  of  good  lines  or 
decorative  masses,  it  will  add  much  to  the  value 
of  a  home  portrait  if  it  can  be  used  as  a  back- 
ground for  a  single  figure  or  a  group.  Examples 
of  the  use  of  such  backgrounds  are  seen  in  Figs. 
31  and  32.  Both  are  fairly  extensive;  that  is  to 
say,  there  is  a  considerable  area  of  background  in 
relation  to  the  size  of  the  figures,  and  this  tends 
perhaps  to  make  the  pictures  look  a  little  theatri- 
cal, but  in  both  cases  they  "belong"  and  are  not 
in  the  least  out  of  keeping.  In  Fig.  31  the  line 
of  the  staircase  is  interesting,  and  the  little  figure, 
in  full  light,  has  sufficient  "pull"  easily  to  domi- 
nate the  picture  and  not  be  overpowered  by  the 
background.  The  little  table  in  the  corner  gives 
the  necessary  balance.  In  Fig.  32,  the  rectan- 
gular shapes  of  the  windows  fill  the  space,  but 
are  subordinate  in  interest  to  the  group. 

In  selecting  or  arranging  a  background,  the 
photographer  must  always  keep  in  mind  the  im- 
portance of  simplicity.  This  is  one  of  the  main 
difficulties  in  home-portraiture,  for,  unless  great 
care  is  taken  to  keep  the  background  simple, 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

there  is  danger  of  the  sitter  becoming  merely 
an  item  in  an  arrangement  of  bric-a-brac.  Any- 
thing that  does  not  definitely  help  the  picture 
should  be  removed.  If  that  is  not  possible,  a 
plain  background  of  some  kind  should  be 
substituted. 

Another  example  of  a  background  that  helps 
to  tell  the  story  and  explain  the  motive  of  the 
picture  is  given  in  Fig.  33.  This  is  a  plain  back- 
ground, but  there  is  a  good  deal  of  it;  the  idea 
here  was  to  show  a  characteristic  pose  of  the 
artist  and  a  habit  he  had  of  putting  his  canvas 
on  the  floor.  As  the  building  was  about  to  be 
demolished,  he  was  anxious  to  have  a  memento 
of  the  interesting  crack  in  the  plaster  on  the  wall. 
The  background  must  always  be  appropriate,  and 
in  keeping  with  the  subject  and  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  picture.  Nothing  should  be  intro- 
duced into  the  picture  that  would  not  naturally 
be  there.  The  days  of  the  marble  pillar  and  the 
velvet  curtain  have  passed,  and  there  are  en- 
couraging signs  of  the  recognition  of  the  impor- 
tance of  simplicity. 

The  tone  of  the  background  is  an  important 
point,  and  it  must  be  carefully  considered,  es- 
pecially in  pictures  showing  a  fairly  large  head, 
for  the  tone  of  the  face  is  influenced  very  much 
by  the  tone  of  the  background.  The  flesh  tones 
appear  light  or  dark  according  to  whether  the 

[140] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

prevailing  tone  of  the  background  is  dark  or  light, 
for  tone  is  very  largely  a  matter  of  contrast.  A 
small  area  of  gray  on  a  white  ground  will  look 
considerably  darker  than  it  would  appear  if  sur- 
rounded by  dark  tones,  as  was  pointed  out  in 
Chapter  V,  page  121.  The  tone  of  the  background 
influences  the  tone  of  the  face  in  a  portrait,  and 
a  face  seen  against  a  white  background  will 
appear  darker  than  it  would  if  a  darker  ground 
were  used.  This  of  course  is  very  largely  a 
matter  of  exposure,  development  and  printing, 
and  depends  also  upon  the  lighting  of  the  face 
when  making  the  exposure.  The  question  of 
tones  in  portraiture  will  be  discussed  more  fully 
and  at  greater  length  in  the  following  chapter, 
but  the  point  to  observe  is  that  if  your  sitter  is 
naturally  dark,  or  is  unnaturally  dark  by  reason 
of  exposure  to  the  sun,  and  you  desire  to  make 
the  face  appear  as  light  as  possible  in  a  picture 
you  should  use  a  dark  background,  and  then  the 
contrast  will  give  an  impression  of  light  flesh- 
tones.  To  get  good  tones  against  a  white  back- 
ground, and  to  get  sufficient  modeling  without 
causing  the  face  to  appear  too  dark,  is  a  task 
that  calls  for  the  utmost  nicety  of  adjustment 
of  exposure  and  development  in  making  the 
negative,  and  correct  timing  in  printing. 


C141] 


CHAPTER  VII 

Tones  in  Portraiture  —  Roundness  and  Solidity  Brought  out  by 
Lighting  —  Ordinary  Lighting  —  Outdoor  Portraits  —  Home 
Portraiture  —  Unusual  Lightings  —  The  Outfit  for  Home 
Portraiture. 


is  as  much  difference  in  the  meaning 
JL  of  the  words  tone  and  tones  as  there  is  in 
the  words  nerve  and  nerves.  When  for  instance, 
we  speak  of  the  tone  of  a  private  school  being 
good,  we  mean  that  the  members  of  the  faculty 
are  refined  and  cultured  gentlemen  and  ladies, 
and  that  they  inculcate  refinement  and  good  man- 
ners in  the  pupils.  Refinement,  then,  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  good  tone,  and  the  tone  of  a  photo- 
graph may  be  considered  satisfactory  if  it  is  quiet 
and  refined,  not  crude  or  startling,  not  vague,  un- 
certain or  muddy.  There  should  be  no  very  vio- 
lent contrasts  and  no  spottiness  of  light  and  shade, 
and,  above  all,  the  tones  must  be  right.  The  tone 
of  a  photograph  depends  very  much  on  its  tones, 
that  is  to  say,  on  the  correct  rendering  of  the 
gradations  of  light  and  shade.  In  portraiture  and 
figure  studies,  just  as  in  outdoor  work,  it  is  im- 
portant that  the  rendering  of  the  gradations 
should  be  correct,  or  at  least  appear  correct. 

[142] 


Fig.  37.    PORTRAIT,  F.  S.  H. 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

The  tones  on  the  face  in  a  portrait  should  suggest 
the  color  —  for  black  and  white  can  suggest 
color  —  and  in  order  that  this  may  be  so,  the 
tones  should  correctly  reproduce,  not  only  the 
general  tint  and  gradations  of  color,  but  also  the 
gradations  of  light  and  shade  necessary  to  give 
modeling,  roundness  and  solidity. 

Let  us  deal  first  of  all  with  gradations  of  light 
and  shade,  ignoring  for  the  present  the  general 
color  or  tone  of  the  face,  for  the  latter  is  modified 
to  a  large  extent  by  the  key  of  the  picture  and 
by  contrast  with  the  background.  In  a  portrait 
with  a  predominance  of  dark  tones,  dark  clothing 
and  dark  background,  the  face  and  hands,  being 
the  only  light  areas,  will  appear  lighter  by  reason 
of  the  contrast  with  the  dark  tones.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  prevailing  tones  are  light,  for 
instance,  white  clothing  and  white  background, 
the  contrast  will  tend  to  make  the  flesh  tones 
appear  dark.  This  is  more  a  matter  of  exposure 
and  development,  and  of  correct  timing  in  print- 
ing, than  of  lighting,  but  the  modeling  of  the 
face,  the  gradation  of  highlights,  halftone  and 
shadow  which  indicates  the  shape  of  the  fea- 
tures, is  purely  a  matter  of  lighting. 

The  head  is  round  and  solid,  and  the  aim  in 
lighting  should  be  to  suggest  its  roundness  and 
solidity  by  means  of  highlights,  halftones  and 
shadows,  so  that  it  will  look  round  instead  of  flat. 

[143] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

Sometimes  in  pictures  taken  outdoors,  with  light 
falling  on  the  face  with  equal  intensity  from  all 
sides,  we  get  merely  a  map  of  the  features;  the 
face  looks  like  a  flat  disk,  with  eyes,  nose  and 
mouth  in  then*  proper  positions,  but  entirely  lack- 
ing, in  roundness  and  indications  of  shape.  We 
may  get  enough  to  give  a  recognizable  picture 
but,  without  the  third  dimension,  the  likeness  is 
not  complete.  An  egg,  equally  illuminated  from 
all  sides,  would  look  flat,  and  there  would  be  no 
modeling  to  indicate  its  spherical  shape.  The 
object  of  lighting  is  to  bring  out  the  roundness, 
modeling  and  individuality  of  the  features.  The 
draftsman  can  suggest  relief  by  the  skilful  draw- 
ing of  lines,  but  the  photographer  depends  upon 
shading  for  the  relief  and  modeling  of  the  features. 

The  first  and  most  important  thing  to  do,  then, 
is  to  learn  to  see  lighting.  This  sounds  obvious, 
but  there  are  really  very  few  people  who  can  see 
shadows  and  halftones  on  the  face,  unless  they 
have  cultivated  the  ability  to  do  so.  When  light- 
ing, or  perhaps,  more  correctly  speaking,  shading, 
can  be  perceived  and  appreciated,  the  adjustment 
of  the  light  to  get  pleasing  relief  and  roundness 
is  a  very  simple  matter. 

An  egg  or  a  round  ball,  lighted  from  one  con- 
centrated light-source,  would  have  one  highlight 
just  at  the  spot  where  the  maximum  light  is  re- 
flected back  to  the  eye,  and  around  that  high- 

[1443 


Fig.  38.     SUNLIGHT  EFFECT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 


DIAGRAM  SHOWING  ORDINARY  REMBRANDT  AND  LINE  LIGHTING. 
C1453 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

light  would  be  halftones  and  gradations  of  tone, 
merging  gradually  into  shadow.  If  there  were  no 
light  reflected  into  the  shadows,  they  would  be 
quite  dark  on  the  side  away  from  the  light. 

Much  the  same  thing  is  seen  in  lighting  the 
face,  but  it  is  complicated  a  little  by  the  irregu- 
larities of  the  features,  and  the  individual  fea- 
tures, the  forehead,  the  nose,  the  cheeks,  the 
mouth  and  chin,  each  have  their  own  individual 
lights  and  shades.  There  should  be  one  principal 
highlight  on  the  face,  and  if  only  one  source  of 
light  is  used,  the  side  away  from  the  light  will  be 
in  shadow.  To  get  the  maximum  modeling  and 
the  full  range  of  tones,  the  face  should  be  lighted 
from  one  side  and  slightly  from  the  front,  so  that 
the  light  falls  on  the  face  at  an  angle  of  approxi- 
mately forty-five  degrees.  With  the  sitter  in  the 
position  indicated  in  the  diagram  we  shall  get 
what  is  known  as  "ordinary  lighting."  When  we 
have  acquired  the  ability  to  see  lighting,  we  shall 
observe  that  under  these  conditions  there  is  a 
highlight  reflected  by  the  ridge  of  the  nose,  and 
since  the  skin  of  the  nose  is  close  in  texture  and 
somewhat  tightly  drawn,  this  highlight  is  usually 
rather  strong. 

There  is  another  light  reflected  from  the  dome 
of  the  forehead;  another  from  the  curve  of  the 
chin,  and  sometimes  a  fourth  from  the  cheek- 
bone. Brilliant  little  catchlights  are  also  re- 

[146] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

fleeted  from  the  eyes.  Around  these  highlights 
are  halftones,  merging  gradually  into  shadow  on 
the  parts  of  the  face  that  recede  from  the  camera, 
and  on  the  side  away  from  the  light  there  will  be 
shadow,  relieved  more  or  less  by  light  reflected 
from  the  side  of  the  room  or  from  other  adjacent 
surfaces.  If  the  window  is  small  and  the  sitter  is 
placed  close  to  it,  the  lighting  will  be  very  strong 
and  the  shadow  dark,  but  if  the  sitter  is  placed 
at  some  distance  from  a  large  window,  the  light- 
ing will  be  softer  and  the  shadows  relieved  by 
reflections  from  the  opposite  wall. 

Of  course  we  may  place  our  camera  where  we 
wish  and  can  take  the  picture  from  any  point  of 
view,  as  indicated  in  the  diagram.  The  sitter  is 
supposed,  in  this  diagram,  to  be  facing  towards 
the  camera  marked  Cl,  so  that  a  picture  taken 
from  C3  would  give  a  profile  view  of  the  face. 

This  is  the  method  of  arranging  the  lighting 
to  give  the  maximum  of  modeling,  and  a  full 
range  of  gradation  from  highlights  to  deep  shadow. 
The  only  problem  is  to  photograph  it  with  suffi- 
cient technical  skill,  so  that  the  gradations  of 
tone  and  the  modeling  will  be  correctly  rendered 
in  the  picture,  and  this  is  merely  a  matter  of 
correct  exposure  and  proper  development  and 
printing.  The  tones  are  correctly  rendered  in  the 
print  only  when  the  gradations  of  light,  halftone 
and  shadow  are  reproduced  in  their  proper  rela- 

[147] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

tion  to  each  other.  The  technical  problems  of 
reproducing  gradations  of  light  and  shade  in  their 
proper  relation,  and  the  influence  of  exposure  on 
the  truth  of  the  gradations  will  be  taken  up  in 
more  detail  later.  I  want  now  to  point  out  what 
the  artist  should  look  for  in  the  subject. 

There  is  often  a  tendency  to  make  the  general 
tone  of  the  face  in  a  portrait  too  light,  so  that 
the  highlights  are  not  apparent.  The  lightest 
tone  we  can  get  in  a  print  is  represented  by  the 
white  paper.  The  lightest  tone  in  a  portrait 
subject,  lighted  as  described,  is  the  bright  catch- 
light  in  the  eyes  and  possibly  the  highlight  on  a 
starched  white  collar.  These  are  only  very  minute 
areas,  therefore  there  can  be  only  very  minute 
areas  of  white  paper  in  a  print,  if  the  tones  are 
correctly  rendered.  Next  we  have  the  highlights 
on  the  face  and  the  whites  of  the  eyes,  slightly 
lower  in  tone,  and,  therefore,  not  white  paper, 
and  then,  in  turn,  the  lesser  lights,  the  halftones 
and  shadows  on  the  face,  hair  and  clothing,  the 
darkest  shadow  being  represented  (if  we  are  using 
a  full  range  of  tones)  by  the  blackest  deposit  of 
platinum  or  silver  on  the  printing  paper.  To 
represent  any  part  of  the  face  as  white  paper, 
except  the  catchlights  in  the  eyes  and  highlights 
on  the  teeth,  is  absolutely  wrong,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  light  and  shade  gradations  but 
also  on  account  of  the  color  of  the  face. 

[148] 


Fig.  39.     THE  COMPOSER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

In  this  connection  I  would  ask  the  reader  to 
turn  back  and  carefully  observe  the  lighting  on 
the  face  of  the  boy  in  Fig.  8.  In  this  portrait 
there  is  absolutely  no  white  paper  except  the 
very  small  catchlights  in  the  eyes  and  the  high- 
lights on  the  teeth.  The  teeth  are  not  even 
dead  white;  there  is  in  the  original  print  a  quiet 
perceptible  difference  between  the  tone  of  the 
teeth  and  the  highlights  on  them,  and  in  Fig.  34 
there  is  very  subtle  and  delicate  gradation  of 
tone  on  the  face.  In  both  instances  the  faces 
appear  to  be  white,  but  truth  of  tone  is  preserved 
by  the  sparing  use  of  the  lightest  possible  tones. 

If  the  face  or  any  part  of  the  face,  except  the 
highlights,  were  to  be  represented  in  a  picture 
as  white  paper,  we  should  have  nothing  lighter 
in  tone  to  represent  a  white  collar  or  anything 
really  white.  So  we  would  be  forced  to  make  the 
face  and  the  white  collar  exactly  the  same,  which 
would  be  far  from  truthful.  We  can  make  the 
face  look  white,  that  is  to  say,  white  enough  to 
show  that  the  subject  is  not  negroid,  and  still 
preserve  truth  of  tone,  by  means  of  contrast  with 
dark  tones  in  the  rest  of  the  picture,  as  in  the 
case  of  Fig.  15,  or  by  means  of  very  delicate  and 
subtle  gradations,  as  in  Fig.  34.  In  each  case 
we  have  modeling  and  gradations  of  light  and 
shade,  and  the  suggestion  of  color  and  flesh  tints. 

When  we  have  a  full  and  comparatively  long 

[149] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

range  of  tones,  such  as  we  can  get  with  the  ordi- 
nary 45-degree  lighting,  it  is  not  difficult  to  get 
the  proper  suggestion  of  color  in  the  face,  because 
we  can  use  plenty  of  halftone  and  shadow,  but 
when  we  shorten  the  scale  of  tones  and  use  a 
flatter  lighting  so  that  we  lessen  the  effect  of 
contrast,  we  have  to  be  even  more  careful  to  pre- 
serve truth  of  tone  and  the  suggestion  of  flesh 
tint.  If  the  background  is  light,  as  in  Fig.  34  and 
in  Fig.  14,  the  color  in  the  face  can  be  suggested 
by  making  the  gradations  very  delicate  and  only 
barely  visible,  for  the  contrast  of  the  flesh  tones 
with  the  background  will  tend  to  make  the  face 
look  too  dark  if  the  halftones  are  too  strong,  but 
if  the  background  were  dark,  the  modeling  would 
have  to  be  a  little  stronger  to  avoid  a  suggestion 
of  flatness,  because  the  contrast  of  light  flesh 
tones  against  dark  would  tend  to  make  the  face 
appear  too  light  and  lacking  in  color. 

When  we  have  a  softer  and  flatter  lighting,  with 
the  highlights  less  strongly  accentuated,  as  in 
Fig.  35,  the  tones  suggest  color  rather  than  con- 
trasts of  light  and  shade,  and  the  problem  then 
is  somewhat  analogous  to  the  problem  of  ortho- 
chromatism,  so  that  we  have  to  try  and  indicate 
by  the  varying  shades  of  gray  the  visual  inten- 
sities of  the  colors  in  the  subject.  The  Day 
after  Christmas  represents  a  rather  dark-skinned 
Italian  child  with  black  hair  and  dark  eyes,  wear- 

[150] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

ing  a  light  blue  blouse  with  white  stripes.  The 
background  was  light  gray.  In  this  picture  the 
lighting  is  very  soft  and  flat,  and  there  is  only 
just  sufficient  modeling  to  suggest  roundness. 

When  the  face  is  in  shadow  against  a  white 
background,  the  flesh  tones  will  look  compara- 
tively dark,  and  they  must  be  so  represented  in 
a  picture  to  preserve  truth  of  tone.  In  Fig.  36, 
the  faces  of  the  boys,  seen  against  the  sky,  are 
quite  dark  in  tone,  but  still  are  in  correct  rela- 
tion to  the  other  tones  in  the  picture. 

In  portraits  taken  outdoors,  in  the  shade,  we 
usually  get  softer  modeling,  and  the  highlights 
are  not  accentuated  as  much  as  in  indoor  pictures. 
This  is  because  the  light  is  more  diffused  and 
illuminates  the  shadows.  Of  course,  if  portraits 
are  made  in  sunlight  we  get  stronger  contrasts, 
but  this  is  another  story  and  will  be  taken  up 
later. 

Portraits  outdoors  in  the  shade  have  usually 
less  contrast  of  light  and  shade,  by  reason  of  the 
diffused  lighting,  but  they  should  show  color  con- 
trasts, and  this  will  preclude  the  face  being 
rendered  too  light.  The  correct  rendering  of 
tones  in  outdoor  portraiture  is  very  similar  in 
many  ways  to  the  correct  rendering  of  tones  in 
landscape  pictures,  which  was  dealt  with  in  a 
preceding  chapter.  The  use  of  an  orthochro- 
matic  plate  and  a  color-filter  will  help  in  ren- 

[151] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

dering  tones  correctly.  When  the  increased 
exposure  is  not  a  serious  obstacle,  the  ray-filter 
should  always  be  used,  for  the  problem  is  one  of 
reproducing  color  values  correctly  and  is  not,  as 
in  landscape  work,  the  problem  of  reproducing 
color  values  modified  by  atmosphere,  which  is 
altogether  different.  When  working  indoors,  a 
color-screen  is  rarely  practicable,  but  outdoors, 
in  good  diffused  light,  it  may  often  be  used  with 
advantage.  Figure  37  was  made  on  a  Cramer 
Instantaneous  Iso  plate  with  a  three-times  filter, 
and  the  tones  suggest  color  very  adequately.  A 
full  exposure  and  careful  development,  as  was 
pointed  out  in  Chapter  IV,  will  give  good  tones 
and  color  values,  provided  the  highlights  and 
gradations  are  not  blocked  up  by  overdevelop- 
ment. Underexposure  must  be  guarded  against 
at  all  times,  or  the  tones  will  be  irremediably 
ruined. 

The  main  difference  between  indoor  portraits 
and  those  made  outdoors  in  diffused  light  is  that 
in  the  former  case  the  lighting,  because  the  light- 
source  is  comparatively  concentrated,  is  apt  to 
be  too  cbntrasty  and  give  too  long  a  range  of 
tones  from  highlight  to  shadow.  Therefore,  we 
have  to  do  all  we  can  to  lessen  the  contrast 
(diffusing  the  light  with  cheesecloth  screens, 
using  a  reflector,  or  placing  the  sitter  back  in 
the  room  almost  directly  facing  the  window,  are 

[152] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

all  methods  of  lessening  contrasts)  whereas,  in 
making  portraits  outdoors  in  the  shade  or  on  a 
dull  day,  the  lighting  is  apt  to  be  too  flat  and 
we  have  to  try  and  increase  contrasts.  This  we 
can  often  do  by  placing  the  sitter  in  the  shade  of 
a  tree  or  a  building,  so  that  the  light  is  a  little 
stronger  on  one  side  than  on  the  other. 

Having  arranged  the  lighting  so  that  the  con- 
trasts are  about  right  in  the  subject,  we  have  to 
expose,  develop  and  print  so  that  we  shall  get 
the  contrasts  about  right  in  the  picture.  Thus 
the  correct  rendering  of  tones  becomes  a  matter 
of  exposure  and  development  and  also,  to  a  great 
extent,  a  question  of  orthochromatism.  The 
purely  technical  side  of  the  problem  will  be  taken 
up  later;  we  are  concerned  now  only  with  truth 
of  tone  as  indicated  in  a  picture.  The  artist 
must  always  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  flesh- 
tones  can  only  very  rarely  be  as  light  as  the  tones 
of  white  clothing,  and  that  there  can  be  only 
•very  small  areas  of  white  on  the  face  in  a  por- 
trait, only,  as  we  said  before,  the  catchlights  in 
the  eyes  and  the  highlights  on  the  teeth,  for  the 
tones  on  the  face  must  suggest  color  and  we 
should  always  be  able  to  teU  from  the  tones  of 
the  picture  whether  the  complexion  is  naturally 
light  or  dark,  for  then  and  only  then  will  the 
tones  be  true. 

When  we  come  to  deal  with  sunlight  in  outdoor 

C153] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

portraits,  we  have  to  overcome  the  tendency  to 
get  too  much  contrast  of  light  and  shade.  We 
must  have  a  certain  amount  of  contrast  to  pro- 
duce the  right  effect,  but  we  must  get  it  rather 
by  leaving  out  some  of  the  middle-tones  than 
by  making  the  highlights  too  white  and  the  shad- 
ows too  black.  There  will  be  a  tendency  to  get 
very  dark  shadows  and  it  is  quite  right  that 
they  should  be  dark,-but  we  must  always  try  and 
preserve  detail  in  the  shadows,  and  not  make 
them  too  black  and  solid.  This  also  is  purely  a 
matter  of  exposure  and  development.  Full  ex- 
posure will  give  detail  in  the  shadows,  and  proper 
development  will  give  gradation  in  the  highlights. 
By  getting  both  the  highlights  and  the  shadows 
about  right,  we  can  get  the  effect  of  sunlight, 
even  though  we  may  have  to  compress  the  scale 
of  tones  and  leave  out  some  of  the  middle  tints. 
Harsh,  chalky  highlights  and  dense,  black  shadows 
do  not  suggest  sunlight,  but  only  suggest  under- 
exposure and  overdevelopment.  The  suggestion 
of  sunlight  is  conveyed  by  the  fact  that  the  cast 
shadows  have  a  definite  edge  and  outline,  and 
that  there  are  patches  and  spots  of  light  on  the 
face,  rather  than  a  gradual  blending  of  light  and 
shadow,  but  the  patches  and  spots  of  light  must 
be  luminous  rather  than  dense  and  chalky,  and 
we  must  still  be  able  to  see  color  and  flesh  tints 
both  in  the  light  parts  and  in  the  shadows.  In 

[154] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

Fig.  38  there  is  gradation  and  tone  in  the  high- 
Lights;  we  can  see  the  color  and  texture  of  the 
skin  and  the  suggestion  of  freckles.  The  only 
really  black  shadows  are  the  very  small  areas  in 
the  mouth  and  under  the  chin.  The  whole  secret 
of  success  in  sunlight  effects  is  full  exposure, 
followed  by  not  too  much  development.  This 
will  usually  give  a  satisfactory  negative  and  one 
that  will  give  a  good  print.  The  tendency  to  cut 
down  the  exposure  because  the  light  is  very 
bright  must  be  avoided,  because  we  have  to 
expose  for  the  shadows,  which  are  comparatively 
dark,  and  must  allow  for  the  fact  that  the  subject 
is  "close  up,"  and  that  the  shadows  are,  there- 
fore not  modified  to  any  great  extent  by  the 
atmosphere. 

The  photographer  who  is  anxious  to  put  into 
practice  his  artistic  ideas  and  ideals  would  do 
well  to  devote  some  attention  to  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  branches  of  picture-making  with  the 
camera,  home  portraiture.  This  is  a  field  which 
is  as  yet  by  no  means  exhausted,  and  in  which 
there  are  many  possibilities  for  real  picture- 
making.  Although  home  portraiture  at  the  pres- 
ent time  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  branch  of 
professional  portraiture  and  is  undertaken  very 
extensively  purely  as  a  means  of  making  money, 
the  first  home  portraits  were  made  by  amateur 
photographers,  and  even  now  the  best  work  of 

[155] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

this  kind  is  produced  by  amateurs.  Such  workers 
as  Mathilde  Weil  and  Eva  Watson-Schiitze  opened 
the  eyes  of  the  professional  to  the  money-making 
as  well  as  the  pictorial  possibilities  in  home  por- 
traiture, and  now  it  is  so  widely  exploited  that 
there  is  a  tendency  to  make  home  portraits  in  a 
conventional  and  stereotyped  way.  The  home- 
portrait  photographers  are  getting  into  a  rut  in 
much  the  same  way  as  the  studio  workers,  and 
many  of  them  are  trying  to  make  home  portrai- 
ture conform  to  the  traditions  of  professional 
studio  work.  The  practice  of  hanging  up  a  strip 
of  black  cloth  behind  the  sitter  and  then  working 
in  on  the  negative  a  path,  a  gate  and  some  highly 
improbable  foliage,  or  a  lattice  window,  which- 
ever happens  to  be  in  style  at  the  moment,  raises 
such  pictures  only  a  very  little  above  the  level 
of  those  made  in  front  of  a  painted  background, 
which  were  necessarily  all  very  much  alike  except 
for  the  fact  that  a  very  elaborately  carved  chair 
or  settee  was  sometimes  added  to  the  rural  land- 
scape. There  are  certain  recognized  conventions, 
and  the  professional  home-portrait  operator  has 
a  set  of  poses  on  which  he  rings  the  changes  until 
he  has  used  up  all  his  plates.  TheOise  of  artificial 
light  has  added  one  or  two  more  possibilities,  and 
now  there  is  usually  a  negative  or  two  made  at 
the  fireplace,  with  an  almost-convincing  fire 
worked  in  afterwards  to  hide  the  electric  lamp. 

[156] 


Fig.  40.    JOHN 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

But  although  home  portraiture  has  been  taken 
up  so  extensively  by  professional  workers,  its 
possibilities  in  the  way  of  really  artistic  results 
are  still  practically  untouched.  Who  is  more 
eminently  fitted  to  investigate  these  possibilities 
than  the  amateur  who  can  begin  in  his  own  home 
and  branch  out  in  the  homes  of  his  friends  and 
acquaintances?  The  very  fact  that  there  are 
many  difficulties  to  overcome  makes  the  work  all 
the  more  interesting.  Every  picture  offers  fresh 
problems,  and  each  different  subject,  according 
to  the  age,  sex  and  temperament  of  the  sitter, 
has  its  own  special  difficulties,  so  that  there  is 
practically  no  end  to  the  opportunities  for 
experiment. 

And  home  portraiture  is  so  entirely  rational 
and  appropriate,  for  most  people,  more  especially 
the  interesting  people,  can  only  be  thoroughly 
at  home  when  they  are  literally  at  home.  Many 
people  leave  a  large  part  of  their  personality 
behind  when  they  pose  for  a  picture  amid  the 
elaborate  furnishings  and  the  barbarous  and 
complicated  accessories  usually  associated  with  a 
professional  studio.  The  massive  and  imposing 
studio  camera  and  stand  are  alone  almost  suffi- 
cient to  inspire  awe  in  all  but  the  most  sophisti- 
cated, and,  in  any  case,  even  a  simple  studio  will 
inevitably  deprive  the  picture  of  much  that  is 
natural,  interesting  and  artistic.  A  musician  or 

[157] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

a  painter  would  naturally  feel  more  at  ease  in  his 
own  music  room  or  studio,  and  what  could  be 
more  fitting  than  to  photograph  a  musician  at 
his  own  piano,  or  a  painter  surrounded  by  his 
own  pictures  (Fig.  39)?  This  applies  even  more 
strongly  to  children,  who  are  very  sensitive,  as 
a  rule,  to  environment.  It  will  be  obvious,  I  am 
sure,  that  John,  curled  up  in  the  window  seat  at 
home,  reading  his  own  Book  of  Knowledge,  ex- 
plaining and  pointing  out  that  the  sixth  star  in 
the  top  row  on  the  American  flag  is  the  star  of 
Massachusetts,  is  more  likely  to  be  the  John  that 
luV  family  and  friends  know,  than  if  he  were  pos- 
ing in  a  strange  and  interesting  looking  room 
that  he  has  never  seen  before,  and  having  to  sit 
still  instead  of  being  allowed  to  wander  around 
and  ask  questions  about  everything  he  sees 
(Fig.  40). 

Unconventional  but  entirely  natural  lighting 
can  often  be  used  in  making  home  portraits, 
though,  if  it  is  thought  to  be  more  desirable  it 
is  quite  possible  to  use  a  plain,  straightforward 
"ordinary  lighting,"  such  as  is  illustrated  and 
explained  by  the  diagram  on  page  145.  All  kinds 
of  fancy  lightings  are  possible,  and  not  at  all 
hard  to  get,  in  almost  any  ordinary  room,  includ- 
ing the  so-called  "Rembrandt"  lighting,  and  the 
rather  hackneyed  "line"  lighting  of  the  studio. 
The  artist  will  probably  try  to  avoid  these  things, 

[158] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  will  photograph  his  subjects  lighted  in  the 
way  their  friends  are  accustomed  to  seeing  them. 
He  will  use  the  light  to  emphasize  the  character- 
istics that  he  wants  to  bring  out  clearly,  and  if 
the  lighting  is  unusual  and  unconventional  and 
totally  opposed  to  the  canons  of  professional 
practice,  that  need  not  matter,  as  long  as  it  is 
what  he  considers  suitable  and  proper  for  that 
particular  picture. 

A  picture  is  not  necessarily  artistic  just  because 
it  is  unusual,  unconventional  or  startling  in  light- 
ing or  arrangement,  and  there  is  ample  scope  for 
the  display  of  artistic  perception  and  feeling  even 
in  a  simple  picture  such  as,  for  instance,  Fig.  8. 
Simple,  straightforward  lighting,  such  as  the 
"ordinary  lighting"  of  the  diagram,  will  often 
bring  out  the  character  and  personality  of  the 
sitter  far  more  truthfully  and  more  convincingly 
than  a  freakish  and  startling  scheme  of  lighting. 
But,  in  order  to  be  able  to  use  any  lighting  effec- 
tively, the  artist  must  have  a  sound  knowledge 
of  the  elementary  principles. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  I  have  given 
a  diagram  and  have  explained  a  method  of  getting 
what  is  known  as  "ordinary  lighting."  This  is 
so  called  because  it  is  the  method  of  lighting  fre- 
quently used  in  the  professional  studio,  and  it  is 
the  basis  of  good,  normal,  everyday  lighting. 
This  method  of  lighting  is  the  result  of  many 

[159] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

years  of  study  and  experiment,  and  it  has  been 
found  to  bring  out  likeness  and  the  shape  and 
modeling  of  the  features  very  simply  and  easily, 
so  it  will  be  well  for  the  artist  to  study  and  master 
it  before  he  experiments  with  the  unusual  and 
unconventional.  With  ordinary  lighting,  the 
maximum  of  modeling  and  gradation  of  light  and 
shade  can  be  secured,  and  the  artist  must  learn 
to  see  modeling  and  gradations  before  he  can 
use  lighting  to  the  best  advantage.  I  am  urging 
the  reader  to  master  this  conventional  scheme 
of  lighting,  not  because  I  consider  it  to  be  always 
the  best  or  the  most  suitable  method,  but  because 
I  think  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  know  what  it 
is  and  how  such  a  lighting  can  be  obtained.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  a  foundation  on  which  to 
base  experiments  and  departures  from  the 
usual. 

The  lighting  in  home  portraiture  need  not  and 
should  not  be  copied  from  the  methods  of  the 
studio,  for  the  principal  characteristic  of  such 
work  should  be  originality  and  the  interpretation 
of  individuality,  but  experiments  and  originality 
must  be  based  on  knowledge  of  general  principles 
and  on  an  appreciation  of  the  important  part 
played  by  lighting  in  suggesting  the  third  dimen- 
sion, the  roundness  and  modeling  that  convey 
likeness.  Just  blind  groping  in  the  dark  will  not 
accomplish  very  much.  With  the  sitter  in  the 

[160] 


Fig.  41.     ANNISQUAM  BRIDGE,  SUNLIGHT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

position  indicated  in  the  diagram,  facing  towards 
the  camera  at  Cl,  we  can  get  a  full-face  picture 
with  very  effective  lighting.  There  will  be  a  full 
range  of  gradations  on  the  face,  highlights  on  the 
forehead,  nose,  cheek  and  chin,  halftones  on 
those  parts  of  the  face  that  recede  from  the 
camera,  and  shadow  on  the  side  away  from  the 
light.  There  will  be  more  light  than  shadow  on 
the  face,  roughly  about  three  parts  light  to  one 
part  shadow.  This  is  ordinary  lighting.  By 
taking  the  camera  around  to  C2,  without  chang- 
ing the  position  of  the  sitter,  we  can  get  a  three- 
quarter  view  of  the  face  on  which  we  shall  see 
more  shadow  than  light.  This  is  the  arrange- 
ment sometimes  described  as  "Rembrandt"  light- 
ing. Then,  still  leaving  the  sitter  in  the  same 
position,  we  can  take  the  camera  further  around 
to  C3  and  can  get  a  profile  with  a  very  effective 
"line"  lighting.  If  we  are  careful,  when  photo- 
graphing from  these  last  two  positions,  to  give 
sufficient  exposure  to  get  proper  detail  in  the 
shadows,  such  pictures  should  be  very  interesting. 
In  The  Artistic  Side  of  Photography,  A.  J.  Ander- 
son writes:  "As  soon  as  the  photographer  has 
learned  to  see  modeling  by  means  of  its  high- 
lights, shadings  and  shadows  and  not  by  his 
stereoscopic  vision,  he  will  find  that  all  the 
world's  a  studio  and  all  the  men  and  women 
merely  sitters.  As  soon  as  he  has  learned  to  see 

[161] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

in  this  manner,  he  may  be  certain  that  when  a 
person  looks  well,  he  will  photograph  well." 

The  very  nature  of  home  portraiture  precludes 
hard  and  fast  rules.  Every  worker  must  carry 
out  his  own  ideas  in  his  own  way.  He  should 
understand  lighting  thoroughly,  so  that  he  can 
use  it  to  get  any  effect  he  wants. 

The  outfit  for  home  portraiture  need  not  be 
at  all  elaborate  or  extensive.  Good  work  can  be 
done  with  practically  any  kind  of  outfit,  though 
there  are  certain  features  in  the  apparatus  that 
are  desirable  and  helpful.  If  large  heads  are 
wanted,  a  long-focus  lens  must  be  used,  and  often 
the  rear  combination  of  a  rapid  rectilinear  lens 
will  do  very  well.  Personally  I  have  found  a 
lens  of  the  semi-achromatic  type  better  adapted 
for  this  kind  of  work  than  an  anastigmat,  though 
sometimes  the  crisp  definition  of  the  anastigmat 
is  more  suitable.  This  is  a  matter  for  each  to 
decide  for  himself.  Possibly  it  will  be  helpful  to 
some  of  my  readers  if  I  describe  briefly  my  own 
outfit,  not  that  it  is  necessarily  any  better  or 
more  satisfactory  than  others,  but  because  it  has 
been  found  to  be  entirely  adequate  for  my  pur- 
poses. I  use  an  ordinary  6|  x  8|  view  camera 
and  a  rather  solidly  built  tripod.  A  specially 
designed  "home  portrait"  tripod  is  convenient 
but  not  an  absolute  necessity.  I  have  an  extra 
back  that  can  be  used  on  this  camera  to  accommo- 

[162] 


Fig.  42.     SURF  AT  BASS  ROCKS 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

date  5x7  plate  holders.  The  lens  I  use  most 
frequently  is  a  14J-inch  Verito,  which  is  fitted 
with  a  Studio  shutter.  I  also  possess  and  occa- 
sionally use  an  old  fashioned  Voigtlaender  Eury- 
scope  Portrait  lens  of  about  10  inches  focal 
length.  This  has  Waterhouse  stops  that  slide 
into  a  groove  in  the  lens  barrel.  As  it  has  no 
shutter,  I  use  a  lens  cap.  I  have  a  piece  of  stout 
wire  bent  in  such  a  way  that  it  fits  into  screw- 
eyes  on  the  camera  front  and  projects  over  the 
lens,  and  over  this  I  hang  a  dark  cloth  for  a  lens 
shade.  I  never  use  any  kind  of  artificial  back- 
ground for  home  portraits  and  only  very  rarely 
a  reflector.  By  so  placing  the  sitter  in  relation  to 
the  light  that  there  are  no  very  heavy  shadows 
on  the  face,  the  need  for  a  reflector  is  done  away 
with.  I  use  either  glass  plates  or  Eastman  Por- 
trait Films,  as  is  most  convenient.  The  films 
save  weight  when  it  is  necessary  to  carry  the 
camera  any  considerable  distance.  I  have  never 
used  any  kind  of  artificial  light  for  portraits, 
except  for  occasional  experiments  in  my  own 
home. 


£163:1 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Definition  of  Art  —  The  Need  for  Cultivated  Good  Taste  — 
Picture-making  Largely  Instinctive  —  Landscape  Photog- 
raphy—  Imagination  —  The  Selection  of  Suitable  Condi- 
tions—The Illusion  of  Relief  —  The  Illusion  of  Distance  — 
The  Illusion  of  Movement  —  Underexposure  Fatal  to  Suc- 
cess—Night Photography— Still-life  and  Flower  Studies. 

IN  preceding  chapters  I  have  endeavored  to 
point  out  some  of  the  principles  of  art  which 
are  observed  by  painters,  sculptors,  photographers 
and  all  whose  aim  is  to  produce  a  work  of  art. 
Art  has  been  variously  defined  by  different 
writers.  The  most  satisfactory  definition,  per- 
haps is  this:  "The  production  of  beauty  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  pleasure."  When  applied  to 
picture-making  by  photography  or  otherwise,  a 
better  definition  would  be:  "The  beautiful  repre- 
sentation of  nature  for  the  purpose  of  giving  dis- 
interested pleasure."  Either  definition  is  applic- 
able to  photography,  for  we  must  keep  in  mind 
H.  Snowden  Ward's  definition  of  a  photographic 
picture:  "A  thing  beautifully  photographed, 
rather  than  a  beautiful  thing  photographed." 
So  the  aim  in  picture-making  is  to  represent 
nature  beautifully,  in  such  a  way  that  the  repre- 
sentation will  give  some  pleasure  to  those  who 

C164] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

are  capable  of  appreciating  beauty.  Nature,  in 
this  respect,  must  be  held  to  include  human 
nature,  for  in  picture-making  we  can  use  both 
animate  and  inanimate  objects.  Portraiture, 
genre  studies  and  all  pictures  including  human 
beings  are  in  one  class,  and  landscape  or  marine 
pictures,  with  still-life  studies,  comprise  the 
second.  There  are,  thus,  broadly  speaking,  two 
classes  in  picture-making;  those  that  include  the 
human  figure  and  those  that  do  not,  and  there 
is  a  distinct  difference  in  the  possibilities  of  beauty 
in  these  two  classes.  In  the  representation  of 
inanimate  objects,  as  in  a  landscape,  we  are 
limited  to  the  arrangement  of  things  that  are 
expressionless  in  themselves.  The  beauty  of  a 
landscape  picture  depends  only  to  a  small  extent 
upon  the  beauty  of  the  actual  objects  photo- 
graphed. It  has  been  said:  "The  nobler  human 
attributes  and  passions,  as  wisdom,  courage, 
spiritual  exaltation,  patriotism,  cannot  be  con- 
nected with  a  landscape  and  so  it  is  unable  to 
produce  in  the  mind  the  elevation  of  thought  and 
grandeur  of  sentiment  which  are  the  sweetest 
blossoms  of  the  tree  of  art"  (Govett,  Art 
Principles). 

A  landscape  picture  is  distinguished  from  a 
topographical  record  in  that  it  affords  a  sugges- 
tion of  some  emotion,  and  the  beauty  of  the 
picture  depends  upon  the  truthfulness  with  which 

[165] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

an  interesting  aspect  of  nature  is  represented. 
Truthfulness  of  representation  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  microscopically  sharp  definition  and 
a  profusion  of  fine  detail,  but,  rather,  the  exact 
interpretation  of  a  mood  of  nature.  Grace  of 
line,  interesting  spacing,  truthful  tones  and  the 
attributes  of  beauty  that  are  understood  to  be 
experienced  in  the  contemplation  of  a  pleasing 
pattern  or  design,  are  the  qualities  that  are  essen- 
tial in  a  work  of  art.  The  production  of  a  land- 
scape picture,  considered  as  a  separate  branch 
of  art,  is  regarded  by  some  as  being  on  a  lower 
plane  than  the  making  of  pictures  which  include 
the  human  figure,  because  in  a  landscape  picture 
the  artist  can  produce  only  sensorial  and  not 
intellectual  beauty  and,  furthermore,  because 
some  of  the  highest  qualities  of  beauty  in  nature 
—  grandeur  and  sublimity  —  can  be  suggested 
only  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  a  picture  on  ac- 
count of  the  necessity  for  representing  the  scene 
on  a  very  much  reduced  scale.  Actual  magni- 
tude is  required  to  produce  either  of  these 
qualities  in  any  considerable  degree;  the  actual 
element  of  space  can  be  suggested  only  very 
slightly. 

Suggestion  is  a  most  important  element  in 
picture-making.  In  landscape  pictures,  in  which 
we  will  include  also  marine  and  still-life  studies, 
the  success  of  the  picture  depends  entirely  upon 

[166] 


Fig.  43.     ROCKY  NECK,  EAST  GLOUCESTER 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  effectiveness  with  which  certain  emotions  and 
sensations  of  beauty  are  suggested.  Composi- 
tion, the  mechanics  of  suggestion,  is  the  means 
by  which  we  achieve  beauty  in  a  landscape  pic- 
ture. We  cannot  improve  upon  nature,  but  we 
must  curb  the  prolixity  of  nature.  We  must 
condense  and  simplify,  must  select  just  what  will 
give  a  suggestion  of  the  emotions  which  led  us 
to  think  that  the  material  before  us  would  make 
a  satisfying  picture. 

Emphasis  of  one  particular  feature  is  usually 
necessary;  it  may  be  a  graceful  line,  or  it  may 
be  an  interesting  mass,  but  for  the  proper  enjoy- 
ment of  a  picture,  this  one  predominant  feature 
should  be  given  full  sway,  and  should  not  be 
weakened  in  force  by  the  introduction  of  other 
interests. 

In  landscape  work  the  need  for  broad  and 
impressionistic  treatment  is  strongly  indicated. 
The  softening  of  obtrusive  detail,  the  massing  of 
light  and  shade,  are  often  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose of  simplification.  There  is  a  sense  of  free- 
dom and  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  long, 
flowing  lines  and  broad,  simple  masses.  Such 
pictures  wear  well  and  are  easy  to  live  with.  So 
we  cannot  too  strongly  emphasize  the  importance 
of  simplicity. 

Both  the  accompanying  pictures  are  simple, 
and  in  both  there  is  some  evidence  of  the  at- 
C167] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

tempt  to  interpret  a  mood  of  nature.  In  Fig.  41 
the  theme  is  "sunlight,"  the  hot,  blazing  sun- 
light of  an  August  afternoon.  The  picture  was 
simplified  by  trimming  off  the  sky  in  making 
the  enlargement.  In  Fig.  42  the  never-ceasing 
surge  and  swell  of  the  ocean  is  the  motive  of  the 
picture,  and  everything  has  been  subordinated 
to  this. 

In  a  broad  sense  all  artists  are  impressionists; 
they  do  not  picture  the  objects  themselves,  but 
only  what  they  are  conscious  of  seeing.  There 
is  no  virtue  in  elaboration.  The  artist,  and  more 
especially  he  who  uses  a  camera,  must  endeavor 
to  be,  not  a  mere  recorder  of  external  facts,  but 
one  who  forms  a  vivid  mental  impression  and 
tries  to  make  us  realize  his  impression.  The 
interpretation  of  a  mood  is  more  to  be  desired 
than  a  bald  statement  of  fact. 

The  simplification  of  a  picture  begins  with  the 
selection  of  the  subject.  We  feel  by  instinct,  or 
we  have  learned  by  experience,  that  a  certain 
arrangement  of  line  will  induce  certain  emotions. 
In  a  portrait  or  still-life  study,  we  can  actually 
arrange  such  lines  as  we  feel  are  needed  in  the 
picture,  but  we  cannot  thus  arrange  the  lines 
of  a  landscape  —  we  can  only  select.  The  same 
impulse  that  suggests  arrangement  will  also 
suggest  selection. 

A  certain  amount  of  mechanical  construction 

[168] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  ingenuity  is  needed  in  composing  a  landscape 
picture.  The  artist  must  try  to  see  lines  and 
masses  as  forming  part  of  a  pattern,  not  as  actual 
objects.  The  line  arrangement,  the  pattern  or 
design  of  the  picture,  can  be  modified  very  con- 
siderably by  changing  the  point  of  view  from 
which  the  picture  is  taken.  We  aim  to  produce 
certain  illusions  capable  of  stimulating  the  in- 
voluntary sensation  which  we  name  pleasure,  and 
these  illusions,  as  we  have  pointed  out  in  pre- 
vious chapters,  are  produced  very  largely  by  the 
arrangement  or  selection  of  certain  lines,  tones, 
and  distributions  of  light  and  dark. 

There  are  certain  mechanical  principles  under- 
lying the  production  of  such  illusions.  These 
principles  are  what  we  strive  to  understand  when 
we  study  perspective,  both  linear  and  aerial,  and 
when  we  consider  the  advisability  or  otherwise 
of  using  orthochromatic  plates  and  ray-filters. 

There  are  laws  and  rules  governing  the  pro- 
duction of  a  picture,  as  of  all  works  of  art.  The 
musician  must  understand  and  obey  the  rules  of 
harmony  and  counterpoint,  the  writer  must  study 
the  correct  use  of  words  and  the  proper  construc- 
tion of  sentences,  and  the  picture-maker,  whether 
he  be  a  painter  or  a  photographer,  must  keep  in 
mind  the  principles  governing  the  mechanics  of 
suggestion,  on  which  his  pictures  depend  for  their 
effectiveness. 

[169] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

It  must  not  be  understood,  however,  that 
picture-making  of  any  kind,  whether  it  be  paint- 
ing, drawing  or  photography,  is  a  matter  of  exact 
compliance  with  hard  and  fast  rules;  this  is  not 
the  case  at  all.  There  are  certain  recognized 
methods  in  making  pictures  that  have  been  uni- 
versally adopted  by  artists  of  all  times,  and  thus 
have  become  crystallized  into  principles  of  com- 
position, but  it  will  be  found  that  picture-making 
is  almost  entirely  a  matter  of  good  taste,  and 
that  it  is  largely  instinctive  when  the  taste  has 
been  trained  and  cultivated.  If  a  photographer 
can  compose  at  all;  if  he  can  make  pictures  that 
are  pleasing  to  himself,  and  that  are  regarded  by 
competent  judges  as  being  interesting;  if  he  can 
make  pictures  that  suggest  to  others  the  impres- 
sions that  he  himself  felt  when  he  arranged  or 
selected  the  material,  he  will  do  so  even  if  he  has 
never  heard  of  any  rules.  When  he  has  made  the 
picture,  he  will  find  that,  on  analysis,  a  reason 
can  almost  invariably  be  given  to  explain  why  a 
certain  impression  is  conveyed,  and  why  the 
picture  makes  the  appeal  it  does.  It  may  be 
because  there  are  graceful  or  forceful  lines  in  the 
picture;  it  may  be  on  account  of  decorative 
masses  or  a  delicate  nuance  of  tone;  it  may  be 
that  the  picture  starts  a  train  of  thought  and 
appeals  to  the  imagination;  but  it  can  appeal 
only  to  those  whose  tastes  and  instincts  are 


Fig.  44.     SUNRISE  ON  LAKE  WINNEPESAUKEE 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

similar  to  those  of  the  artist.  If  some  people  can 
see  nothing  in  a  picture,  if  it  means  nothing  to 
them  and  makes  no  appeal,  it  does  not  necessarily 
follow  that  the  picture  is  at  fault.  They  may 
not  have  the  requisite  imagination  or  taste  to 
understand  the  picture.  It  is  just  the  same  in 
music.  Some  can  enjoy  a  Tschaikowsky  sym- 
phony, while  others  can  appreciate  only  a  jazz- 
time  quartette. 

I  have  selected  as  illustrations  of  the  various 
principles  referred  to,  pictures  that  I  have  made 
myself  and,  in  nearly  every  instance,  have  been 
able  to  pin  to  the  picture  a  rule  or  principle  that 
has  been  discussed  in  these  chapters.  It  might 
be  imagined  that  I  had  this  rule  in  mind  at  the 
time,  and  made  the  picture  to  fit  the  rule.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  I  do  not  remember  being  con- 
scious at  all  of  any  rules  or  text-book  instruc- 
tions. In  making  the  picture  Plum  Island,  for 
instance,  I  did  not  stop  to  think  at  all  about  the 
dark  accent  made  by  the  child  against  the  deli- 
cate light  tones,  or  the  direction  of  the  line  of 
the  surf.  When  making  the  portrait,  The  Fair 
Haired  Boy,  I  did  not  consciously  consider  the 
fact  that  a  curve  running  through  the  picture, 
from  the  head  to  the  hands,  would  be  a  pleasing 
line  arrangement,  and  when  photographing  The 
Painter,  I  do  not  think  that  the  idea  of  the  steel- 
yard balance  occurred  to  me  at  all.  I  felt  that 

[171] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

these  selections  were  right  and,  on  the  strength 
of  that  instinctive  feeling,  I  just  went  right  ahead 
and  made  the  exposures.  Then,  after  the  pictures 
were  finished,  I  discovered  that  they  conformed 
with  certain  recognized  formulae,  that  the  child 
in  Plum  Island  formed  a  necessary  and  agreeable 
accent,  that  the  distant  vessel  balanced  the  group 
in  The  Painter,  and  so  on. 

I  think  most  pictures  are  made  in  this  way, 
entirely  by  instinct,  and  that  the  rules  and  prin- 
ciples can  be  tacked  on  afterwards.  This  probably 
will  explain  why  there  are  pictures  that  we  like, 
but  that  seem  to  conform  to  no  rules.  To  "study 
up"  on  composition  and  then  go  out  with  the 
camera  and  a  set  of  rules,  with  the  idea  of  making 
pictures,  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  at  all  the 
way  to  do  it.  It  is,  of  course,  very  necessary  to 
read  and  assimilate  the  rules  and  principles  of 
picture-making,  but  when  you  are  actually  mak- 
ing pictures,  forget  all  about  the  rules  and  prin- 
ciples, and  rely  on  your  own  good  taste  and 
judgment. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  ability  to  compose 
successfully  can  be  learned  entirely  from  books; 
it  is  a  matter  of  good  taste  and  judgment,  cul- 
tivated and  improved  by  the  study  of  good 
pictures,  and  by  the  habit  of  looking  for  and  ex- 
pecting to  see  beauty  in  every  phase  of  nature. 
The  natural  and  inherent  good  taste  of  an  artist 

[172] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

is  possibly  an  unconscious  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  composition.  As  soon  as  we  become 
conscious  of  this  knowledge,  the  good  taste  and 
instinctive  feeling  become  judgment  and  selec- 
tion. But  the  good  taste  must  come  first,  for, 
unless  an  artist  can  compose  by  instinct,  I  do  not 
believe  he  will  ever  learn  to  do  it  by  rule.  Learn 
all  you  can  from  the  study  of  a  large  variety  of 
good  pictures.  If  a  picture  appeals  to  you  par- 
ticularly, try  to  analyze  it  and  find  out  the 
reason  why  it  impresses  you  as  being  beautiful 
or  interesting. 

To  learn  to  see  pictorially  is  the  first  essential 
duty  of  the  would-be  picture-maker.  It  would  be 
no  use  to  learn  from  a  book  that  the  S-shaped 
curve,  for  instance,  is  a  desirable  line,  if  one 
cannot  see  and  appreciate  such  a  line  in  nature. 

Good  taste  and  judgment  can  be  cultivated, 
as  are  other  faculties,  and  the  foundations  of 
success  as  an  artist  are  good  taste  and  an  appre- 
ciation of  beauty.  These  must  come  first,  and 
the  ability  to  record  impressions  of  beauty  will 
follow  later. 

In  landscape  photography,  the  photographer 
must  learn  to  see  his  subject  as  a  pattern;  he 
must  look  for  lines  and  masses,  and  must  learn 
to  see  them  as  parts  of  his  design.  The  suggestion 
that  is  often  given,  to  study  the  subject  through 
a  rectangular  frame  of  blackened  cardboard,  is 

[173] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

a  very  good  one,  especially  for  the  beginner. 
The  amount  of  subject  included  in  the  frame  can 
be  varied  by  changing  the  distance  between  the 
cardboard  and  the  eye.  In  order  to  eliminate 
color,  and  to  get  an  idea  as  to  how  a  subject  will 
appear  in  monochrome,  it  should  be  studied 
through  blue  glass.  Another  way  to  study  the 
subject  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  decora- 
tive quality  of  the  masses  is  to  throw  the  image 
out  of  focus  on  the  focusing  screen,  so  that  all 
detail  is  lost  and  only  the  important  masses  can 
be  seen.  A  tree  is  useful  to  the  artist  only  when 
the  direction  of  its  lines  is  good,  and  the  shape  of 
the  mass  is  satisfactory.  The  line  of  surf  along 
a  sandy  beach  may  be  a  good  line  or  a  bad  one, 
and  the  judgment  and  good  taste  of  the  artist 
will  enable  him  to  decide  whether  it  is  good  or 
bad,  just  as  his  taste  and  judgment  enable  him 
to  decide  as  to  the  shapes  of  the  masses.  The 
good  taste  must  be  cultivated  until  it  becomes 
instinctive  and  reliable.  The  only  way  to  do 
this  is  by  studying  and  analyzing  good  pictures. 
Rules  and  laws  of  composition  will  not  develop 
taste  and  judgment,  they  will  only  explain  why 
certain  shapes  and  certain  directions  of  line  are 
preferable  to  others,  and  give  some  assistance  in 
establishing  a  criterion.  If  a  study  of  composi- 
tion were  all  that  is  necessary,  every  photographer 
and  every  painter  could  be  an  artist. 

[174] 


Fig.  45.    THE  WASHINGTON  STATUE  AT  NIGHT 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  quality  of  imagination  is  another  very  es- 
sential attribute  of  the  artist.  He  conceives  an 
idea  and  puts  it  into  such  form  that  it  can  be 
recognized  by  others.  This  is  true  of  painting 
or  photography,  music  or  poetry.  He  does  noth- 
ing more.  The  greatness  of  the  picture,  the 
music,  or  the  poem  is  governed  by  the  quality  of 
the  imagination  shown  in  its  conception.  Imagi- 
nation is  a  natural  gift  that  can  be  strengthened 
by  study,  and  a  photographer,  gifted  with  a  vivid 
imagination,  who,  by  diligence  and  application, 
has  acquired  skill  in  the  manipulation  of  his 
tools,  can  make  pictures  that  will  express  to 
others  just  what  he  intends  them  to  express. 
Imagination  alone  will  not  suffice  to  produce 
great  pictures;  there  must  be  sufficient  facility 
of  execution  to  carry  out  the  ideas  in  the  artist's 
mind.  Technical  facility  can  be  acquired  by 
careful  and  intelligent  practice.  Imagination  can 
be  cultivated  by  the  study  of  good  pictures,  and 
by  the  cultivation  of  the  mind.  Hard  work  is 
the  secret  of  success  in  art  as  in  everything  else. 
The  great  painters  acquired  their  excellence  by 
study  and  application.  According  to  his  biog- 
raphers, the  triumphs  of  Claude  were  due  to  his 
untiring  industry,  while  Reynolds  held  that  noth- 
ing is  denied  to  well-directed  labor.  And  so  with 
many  others  down  to  Turner,  whose  secret, 
according  to  Ruskin,  was  sincerity  and  toil. 

[175] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

Knowledge  and  experience  are  the  foundations 
upon  which  imagination  can  build.  Years  of  hard 
work  are  necessary,  but  it  is  unfortunately  hard 
to  convince  some  students  of  the  necessity  for 
long  and  hard  study.  Many  seem  to  be  under 
the  impression  that  inspiration  will  come  to  their 
assistance,  and  that  genius  will  enable  them  to 
dispense  with  much  of  the  labor  which  others, 
less  fortunate,  must  undertake.  Some  mistake 
eccentricity  for  artistic  merit,  and  think  that  a 
picture  that  is  weird  and  unusual  in  subject  or 
treatment  is  a  worthy  achievement.  The  uncon- 
ventional, or,  as  Mr.  W.  H.  Downes  calls  it,  the 
"unexpected  pattern,"  often  makes  a  picture 
interesting,  but  eccentricity  carried  too  far  is 
annoying. 

Probably  landscape  work  is  more  often  the 
first  choice  of  the  budding  pictorialist  than  any 
other  branch  of  photographic  picture-making,  and 
it  offers  a  wide  field  for  the  exercise  of  imagina- 
tion. Nature's  moods  are  many  and  varied,  and 
there  is  ample  scope  for  individual  treatment. 
The  chief  point  to  bear  in  mind  is  that  a  simple 
subject  is  usually  more  permanently  pleasing  than 
one  that  is  too  complex.  The  selection  of  suitable 
atmospheric  conditions  is  of  great  importance,  for 
the  "interpretation  of  a  mood"  can  only  be 
effected  when  there  is  obvious  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  the  particular  mood.  There  can  be 

[176] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

no  definite  rules  given  as  to  what  these  condi- 
tions are  to  be.  Nature  is  interesting  at  all  times, 
but,  as  a  general  rule,  very  harsh  and  glaring 
sunlight,  when  the  sun  is  high  in  the  heavens, 
should  be  avoided,  because  at  such  times  there 
is  often  an  utter  lack  of  relief,  roundness  and 
modeling  in  the  trees  and  other  objects. 

The  reason  why  we  can  see  things  stereo- 
scopically  is  because  we  have  two  eyes,  just  like 
a  stereoscopic  camera.  The  two  slightly  different 
images  are  merged  into  one,  and  we  get  the  sug- 
gestion of  solidity,  roundness  and  relief.  This 
stereoscopic  vision  also  enables  us  to  gauge  dis- 
tances, to  judge  the  flight  of  a  tennis  ball,  and 
to  place  things  in  their  proper  relative  positions, 
one  behind  the  other.  The  ordinary  camera  has 
only  one  lens,  and  sees  everything  as  if  it  were 
flat.  Therefore  the  relief  and  roundness  of  the 
objects  represented  by  it  must  be  suggested  by 
shading  and  by  perspective.  Thus  shading  is  of 
great  importance,  and  good  shadows  can  best 
be  secured  when  the  sun  is  low,  and  when  one 
side  of  all  objects  is  more  strongly  lighted  than 
the  other.  Sunlight  coming  from  one  side  gives 
the  maximum  of  relief,  and  the  long  shadows  of 
the  early  morning  or  late  afternoon  are  often  very 
beautiful  and  decidedly  interesting. 

In  picture-making  the  eye  has  to  be  considered 
before  the  mind,  and  it  is  of  immense  importance 

[177] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

that  the  brain  should  have  the  least  possible  work 
to  do  in  assisting  the  eye  to  interpret  a  picture. 
The  aim  of  the  artist  is  to  produce  an  illusion, 
and  the  more  nearly  a  picture  corresponds  to 
nature,  the  more  complete  the  illusion.  Exact 
imitation  of  every  detail  will  not  produce  as 
striking  an  illusion  as  will  a  picture  in  which  such 
things  as  relief,  distance  and  movement  are 
vividly  suggested,  and  in  which  the  artist  has 
generalized  these  essential  qualities.  The  illu- 
sion of  relief,  as  we  have  seen,  can  best  be  pro- 
duced when  the  lighting  is  such  that  one  side  of 
an  object  is  more  strongly  illuminated  than  the 
other,  as  when  the  sun  is  low  and  towards  one 
side.  The  illusion  of  opening  distance  is  sug- 
gested when  the  atmospheric  conditions  are  such 
that  the  distant  planes  are  less  clearly  seen  than 
those  near  at  hand. 

In  Fig.  43  the  distance  looks  distant,  not  only 
because  the  houses  are  small  compared  with  the 
fence  in  the  immediate  foreground,  but  because 
they  are  less  distinct  and  are  grayer  and  lighter 
in  tone  than  the  objects  close  at  hand.  The 
veil  of  atmosphere  between  the  eye  and  distant 
objects  tends  to  make  them  uniform  in  tone,  as 
explained  in  Chapter  IV,  and  it  is  this  atmos- 
phere that  makes  distant  objects  less  clearly  seen 
than  those  close  at  hand,  like  the  distant  houses 
in  Fig.  43. 

[1783 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

In  a  landscape  picture  there  should  usually  be 
at  least  two  distinct  planes  represented;  often 
there  are  three,  the  foreground,  the  middle-dis- 
tance and  the  distance.  Sometimes  there  is  no 
extreme  distance  in  a  picture,  but  only  foreground 
and  middle-distance,  while  occasionally  the  fore- 
ground may  be  merely  a  silhouette  of  a  portion 
of  a  tree  or  a  branch  projected  into  the  upper 
part  of  the  picture,  or  rushes  by  a  river  bank  at 
the  bottom  edge  of  the  picture. 

The  illusion  of  distance  is  a  matter  of  selection 
of  suitable  conditions  of  lighting  and  atmos- 
phere. Early  morning  or  late  afternoon  in  the 
summer  is  usually  a  more  suitable  time  for  pic- 
ture-making than  those  times  of  the  day  when 
everything,  near  and  far,  is  equally  distinct  and 
clear-cut.  The  slight  haze  or  mist  that  is  often 
present  early  or  late  in  the  day  is  very  helpful  in 
differentiating  the  different  planes  in  the  scene. 
Full  exposure  and  careful  development,  not 
carried  too  far,  will  preserve  truth  of  tone  in 
distant  planes.  Sometimes  a  suggestion  of  depth 
and  space  is  given  by  the  introduction  of  an  open 
doorway  or  the  arch  of  a  bridge  in  the  foreground, 
with  a  distant  view  seen  through  it.  Distance 
may  also  be  suggested  by  a  river,  a  stream  or  a 
road  winding  away  into  the  background,  and 
thus  linear  perspective  will  help  in  creating  the 
illusion.  Occasionally  such  an  effect  is  produced 

[179] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

in  a  snow  scene  by  a  track  of  footprints  going  off 
into  the  distance.  Linear  perspective,  the  di- 
minution in  the  size  of  objects  as  they  recede  into 
the  background,  will  give  a  suggestion  of  distance, 
but  this,  in  itself,  is  not  sufficient,  and  the  effect 
must  be  increased  by  the  illusion  of  flattened 
tones  and  less  decided  contrasts. 

Another  illusion  that  can  only  b©  suggested  in 
a  picture  is  the  movement  and  sound  of  nature. 
"In  nature  there  is  always  movement  and  sound. 
Even  on  those  rare  days  when  the  wind  has 
ceased  and  the  air  seems  still  and  dead,  there  is 
motion  with  noise  of  some  kind.  A  brook  trick- 
les by,  insects  buzz  their  zigzag  way,  and  shad- 
ows vary  as  the  sun  mounts  or  descends.  But 
most  commonly  there  is  a  breeze  to  rustle  the 
trees  and  shrubs,  to  ripple  the  surface  of  the 
water,  and  to  throw  over  the  scene  evidence  of 
life  in  its  ever  charming  variety.  The  painter 
cannot  reproduce  these  movements  and  sounds. 
All  he  represents  is  silent  and  still  as  if  nature 
had  suddenly  suspended  her  work  —  stayed  the 
tree  as  it  bent  to  the  breeze,  stopped  the  bird  in 
the  act  of  flight,  fixed  the  water,  and  fastened  the 
shadows  to  the  ground.  What  is  there  then  to 
compensate  the  artist  for  this  limitation?  Why, 
surely  he  can  represent  nature  as  she  is  at  a  par- 
ticular moment,  over  the  hills  and  valleys,  or 
across  great  plains,  with  sunlight  and  atmosphere 

[180] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  make  the  breadth  and  distance  and  so  produce 
an  illusion  of  movement  to  delight  the  eyes  of  the 
observer  with  bewitching  surprise"  (Govett,  Art 
Principles). 

Occasionally  it  is  possible  to  suggest  violent 
movement  by  having  some  parts  of  the  picture  a 
little  blurred,  thus  showing  evidence  of  motion 
during  the  exposure,  but  this  rather  drastic 
method  should  be  used  only  to  suggest  an  un- 
usually impetuous  agitation,  such  as  would  be 
occasioned  by  a  wind  storm.  A  more  subtle  and 
more  pleasing  means  of  suggesting  movement  is 
by  the  general  sweep  of  line  in  the  representa- 
tion of  trees.  A  decided  inclination  of  the  branches 
and  twigs  in  one  direction  will  suggest  the  idea 
of  their  being  blown  by  wind.  It  is  possible  to 
give  an  impression  of  a  landscape  before  rain,  by 
catching  the  moment  when  the  eddying  wind 
turns  up  the  silver  lining  of  the  black  poplar 
leaves.  Movement  in  water,  such  as  falls  and 
breaking  waves,  can  be  suggested  by  avoiding 
too  short  an  exposure,  which  is  always  apt  to 
give  what  is  termed  a  "frozen"  appearance  to  the 
water.  A  breaking  wave  photographed  so  that 
there  is  just  a  little  blurring  in  the  parts  that 
are  moving  very  rapidly  will  give  a  more  realistic 
impression  of  motion  than  if  every  part  of  the 
picture  were  absolutely  sharp  and  clearly  defined 
(Fig.  42).  Waterfalls  and  rapids  can  sometimes 

[181] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

be  just  a  little  blurred,  but  not  so  much  as  to 
lose  form  and  character. 

As  was  pointed  out  in  Chapter  II,  oblique  lines 
and  acute  angles  have  a  tendency  to  suggest 
motion,  while  long  horizontal  lines  convey  an 
impression  of  restfulness.  There  is  another  point 
that  might  be  noted  in  the  representation  of 
moving  objects,  such  as  ships,  animals  or  people 
walking,  and  so  on,  and  that  is  their  position  in 
the  picture-space.  There  should  always  be  plenty 
of  space  in  front  of  a  moving  object  to  suggest 
that  there  is  room  to  move  without  running  out 
of  the  picture.  Motion  of  animals,  such  as  sheep 
on  a  dusty  road,  can  be  suggested  by  a  cloud  of 
dust  behind  them.  Motion  of  ships  sailing 
rapidly  will  be  indicated  by  the  swirl  or  wake 
behind  them.  The  pictorialist  will  do  well  to 
study  all  such  things  as  these,  so  that  he  will  be 
able  to  analyze  impressions  quickly  and  make 
his  pictures  convincing. 

For  the  past  two  years  I  have  had  the  privilege 
of  examining  each  month  many  hundred  photo- 
graphs sent  to  one  of  the  leading  photographic 
magazines  for  competition  and  criticism,  and  the 
conclusion  has  been  forced  upon  me  that  by  far 
the  most  common  failing  in  photographic  picture- 
making  is  underexposure  of  the  negative.  The 
manufacture  of  ultra-rapid  plates  and  "speed" 
film  has  tended  to  foster  the  idea  that  the  shutter 

[182] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

can  be  speeded  up  more  and  more  until  less  than 
the  minimum  of  exposure  is  often  given.  Plates 
and  films  possess  great  latitude,  it  is  true,  but  too 
short  an  exposure  always  has  a  tendency  to  cause 
a  loss  of  atmosphere. 

Of  all  photographic  failings  underexposure  is 
the  most  serious,  for  it  cannot  be  remedied  in 
the  darkroom,  and  an  underexposed  negative  will 
never  give  the  delicate  tonal  gradations  that  are 
so  necessary  from  the  artistic  standpoint.  The 
differentiation  of  the  planes  in  the  picture  always 
suffers  when  the  negative  is  underexposed,  in 
spite  of  the  utmost  skill  that  may  be  exercised 
m  printing.  So  the  pictorialist  must  always 
watch  the  shadows,  and  must  be  sure  to  expose 
for  the  effect  he  wants.  The  success  of  the 
picture  depends  entirely  upon  the  exposure;  very 
little  can  be  done  in  development  to  correct  errors 
in  timing,  and  it  is  the  shadows  that  must  be 
considered  in  judging  the  exposure. 

There  are  very  few  shadows  in  nature  that  are 
absolutely  black,  except,  possibly,  in  India  or 
Egypt  or  other  places  where  the  air  is  very  clear 
and  the  sunlight  is  very  bright  and  glaring. 
Possibly  the  entrance  to  a  dark  cavern  might 
truthfully  be  represented  as  black  in  a  picture, 
but,  as  a  general  rule,  there  is  detail  and  grada- 
tion throughout  the  shadows.  In  a  subject 
lighted  by  electric  arc-lamps,  the  shadows  would 

[183] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

be  hard,  black  and  solid,  and  should  be  so  repre- 
sented in  a  picture.  This  would  be  quite  correct. 
But  the  same  subject  in  daylight  would  have 
entirely  different  shadows. 

Moonlight  scenes,  so  called,  that  are  made  by 
underexposing  in  daylight  show  their  unreality 
by  the  hardness  and  blackness  of  the  shadows. 
The  shadows  in  moonlight  are  empty  and  lack- 
ing in  detail,  but  they  are  never  very  dark.  The 
contrast  between  the  shadows  and  the  lighted 
parts  is  much  less  in  moonlight  than  under  any 
other  conditions. 

The  reason  why  there  is  this  difference  is  that 
in  daylight  the  shadows  are  illuminated  by  dif- 
fused light,  in  moonlight  or  electric  light  they  are 
not.  The  contrasts  in  moonlight  are  very  soft, 
whereas  the  contrasts  given  by  electric  light  are 
very  harsh  indeed.  This  is  why  a  much  under- 
exposed picture  taken  with  the  sun  behind  clouds 
can  never  be  passed  off  successfully  as  a  moonlight 
scene.  The  shadows  are  wrong.  The  under- 
exposure has  made  them  empty  and  lacking  in 
detail,  but  it  has  also  made  them  too  dark,  and 
the  contrasts  are  too  great  for  a  real  moonlight 
effect. 

Pictures  taken  at  sunrise  or  sunset,  facing  the 
sun,  should  be  sufficiently  well  exposed  to  give 
some  shadow  detail  and  should  be  printed  so  that 
the  detail  is  preserved  in  the  print  (Fig.  44). 

[184] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  tendency  usually  is  to  give  a  short  exposure 
with  the  idea  of  preserving  detail  in  the  sky,  but 
the  highlights  must  be  left  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, and  the  exposure  should  be  sufficient  to 
give  as  much  detail  in  the  scene  as  can  be  per- 
ceived by  the  eye. 

A  sunrise  or  sunset  picture  is  very  rarely  true 
to  nature  in  values  and  contrasts.  Almost  in- 
variably there  are  signs  of  underexposure,  and 
they  are  often  overprinted  so  that  parts  of  the 
sky  are  rendered  as  black.  Sometimes  parts  of 
the  sky  at  sunrise  or  sunset  are  dark  in  color, 
dark  purple,  perhaps,  or  dark  gray,  but  never 
black.  Black  clouds  in  a  photograph  never  can 
be  correct.  Such  subjects  need  full  color-correc- 
tion and  full  exposure.  From  a  practical  stand- 
point as  well  as  an  artistic  one,  it  will  be  found 
that  a  sunset  and  water  combination  is  better 
than  sunset  over  land.  Exposure  is  difficult  at 
that  time  of  day  on  land,  but  the  increased  reflec- 
tion of  the  water  shortens  the  necessary  time, 
and  the  reflection  may  add  pictorially  to  the 
result. 

With  regard  to  night  photography,  the  secret 
of  success  lies  in  giving  just  as  long  an  exposure 
as  will  render  as  much  detail  as  can  be  seen.  Too 
long  an  exposure  will  register  detail  in  the  shad- 
ows that  is  not  ordinarily  visible,  and  the  true 
night  effect  will  be  lost.  In  such  pictures,  any 

[185] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

lights  that  may  be  included  in  the  view  will  be 
very  much  overexposed,  and  they  are  liable  to 
cause  halation  in  the  negative.  This  is  one  of  the 
technical  difficulties  that  must  be  overcome. 
Films  are  much  less  subject  to  halation  than 
glass  plates,  but  if  plates  are  used  they  should 
be  backed  or  double-coated  or  both.  Soaking 
in  water  after  a  preliminary  application  of 
developer  will  often  bring  out  shadow  detail 
without  blocking  up  the  highlights,  but  with 
double-coated  plates  quick  development  with  a 
fairly  strong  developer  will  often  develop  the 
surface  image  before  the  developer  has  time  to 
penetrate  through  to  the  bottom  coating.  Night 
photography  is  an  interesting  branch  of  work 
and  the  possibilities  for  artistic  results  are  great. 

Figures  45  and  46  were  both  made  after  dark 
in  a  city  park,  the  only  light  being  that  derived 
from  electric  arc-lamps.  In  both,  the  effect  of 
the  light  rather  than  the  light  itself  is  seen,  and 
thus  technical  difficulties  of  halation  and  over- 
exposure  of  the  lights  are  avoided. 

There  are  many  interesting  effects  to  be  obtained 
at  dusk,  when  the  lamps  are  lighted  and  before 
it  is  quite  dark.  This  is  an  interesting  phase  of 
night  photography  that  has  not  yet  been  fully 
investigated.  It  seems  to  offer  great  possibilities 
and  might  do  away  with  some  of  the  difficulties 
that  are  experienced  after  dark. 

[1863 


*    IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

In  making  still-life  and  flower  studies  the  artis- 
tic worker  has  plenty  of  scope  for  the  display  of 
good  taste,  judgment  and  artistic  feeling.  The 
entire  credit  for  the  success  of  such  pictures  is 
due  to  the  artist,  for  the  arrangement  of  the 
picture  from  start  to  finish  is  absolutely  under  his 
control.  In  pictures  of  this  kind  the  composi- 
tion is  wholly  constructive.  The  photographer 
can  build  up  the  picture  as  he  goes  along,  very 
much  in  the  same  way  as  a  painter.  He  can 
select  the  material  for  the  picture  and  can  ar- 
range it  as  he  likes;  he  can  study  the  effect  on 
the  focusing  screen,  and  can  make  any  changes 
he  thinks  are  desirable  until  he  gets  it  right. 
When  he  has  everything  as  he  wants  it,  he  can 
photograph  it  and  can  use  all  the  technical  knowl- 
edge and  skill  at  his  disposal. 

In  Fig.  47  simplicity  was  the  keynote.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  picture  except  the  principal  ob- 
ject, placed  towards  the  top  and  on  the  left  hand 
side,  and  the  secondary  balancing  object,  placed 
a  little  lower  and  towards  the  right.  The  re- 
flections in  the  shiny  surface  of  the  table  top 
give  interest  by  means  of  repetition  with  variety. 

In  arranging  flower  studies  the  artist  will  do 
well  to  keep  in  mind  some  of  the  principles  of 
pictorial  composition  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
chapters.  He  should  strive  to  secure  unity, 
harmony,  balance  and  completeness.  He  should 

[187] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

make  his  picture  simple.  He  should  endeavor  to 
obtain  good  lines,  decorative  masses  and  a  pleas- 
ing pattern  or  design.  The  rendering  of  tones 
and  color-contrasts  must  be  carefully  considered, 
and  the  technical  work  should  be  without  blemish. 
The  simplicity  of  treatment  shown  by  Japanese 
artists  might  be  studied  with  advantage.  In 
their  pictures  we  usually  find  all  the  above  men- 
tioned qualities,  especially  simplicity  and  grace 
of  line. 

In  order  to  secure  graceful  lines,  only  such 
specimens  should  be  selected  as  possess  this 
qualification,  and  only  a  few  specimens  should  be 
used  in  the  picture,  otherwise  the  grace  and 
beauty  of  each  one  will  be  lost.  Grace  and  beauty 
of  line  are  what  the  photographer  must  chiefly 
rely  upon  to  make  his  picture  beautiful,  for  he 
will  lose  the  beauty  of  color.  It  will  be  found 
that  hi  nature  grace  of  line  and  sumptuous  color- 
ing are  seldom  found  together.  The  photog- 
rapher should  utilize  the  quality  he  can  best 
render  in  his  picture. 


[188] 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Technique  of  Pictorial  Photography  —  Developer  for  Nega- 
tives —  Intensification  —  Reduction  —  Printing  on  Plati- 
num and  Other  Processes — Bromide  Enlarging  —  Mounting 
and  Framing  —  Retouching  —  Trimming. 

IN  the  preceding  chapters,  I  have  considered 
abstract  pictorial  principles,  and  the  impor- 
tant part  played  by  the  imagination  in  the  en- 
joyment of  pictures.  I  have  given,  so  far,  very 
little  information  that  is  distinctly  practical,  and 
have  taken  for  granted  that  the  necessary  tech- 
nical skill  and  experience  are  already  possessed 
by  my  readers.  There  are,  however,  many  to 
whom  a  few  practical  hints  may  be  helpful,  and 
so,  in  this  chapter,  the  abstract  will  give  way  to 
the  practical. 

As  to  the  best  developer  for  negatives,  any 
reliable  developer  properly  used  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  the  best,  and  any  worker  who  has 
experimented  at  all  with  developers  will  have 
found  one  that  he  likes  and  is  satisfied  to  use. 
Jumping  around  from  one  formula  to  another  is 
unnecessary  and  futile,  for  there  really  is  no  dif- 
ference to  speak  of.  Edinol,  metol,  duratol, 
amidol,  are  all  good.  I  have  used  them  all,  and 

[189] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

others  besides,  and  have  not  been  able  to  dis- 
cover that  any  one  of  them  is  better  than  another. 
Here  is  one  formula  that  I  have  used  for  a  long 
time  and  have  found  to  be  very  satisfactory,  con- 
venient and  reliable: 

Amidol 180  grains 

Sodium  sulphite  crystals 3  ounces 

Water 80  ounces 

I  have  never  found  it  necessary  to  be  absolutely 
exact  in  photographic  weighing  and  measuring, 
and  in  compounding  this  formula  I  usually  take 
a  wide-mouthed  bottle  that  holds  twenty-five 
ounces  of  water.  I  add  to  this  one  ounce  of 
sulphite  with  a  spoon  that  I  know  holds  just 
about  one-quarter  ounce.  This,  when  stirred  up, 
will  dissolve  very  quickly,  and,  when  dissolved, 
I  add  to  the  solution  a  spoonful,  which  is  just 
sixty  grains,  of  amidol.  This  developer  has  to 
be  mixed  just  before  using  as  it  does  not  keep 
very  well  in  solution.  Amidol  gives  soft  results 
and  good  halftones,  and  it  is  particularly  good  for 
bromide  enlargements,  giving  prints  of  good  color 
and  fine  gradation. 

The  development  of  negatives  for  pictorial 
work  should  not  be  carried  too  far.  What  we 
need  is  a  soft,  rather  thin,  negative  with  good 
gradation  and  no  extreme  density.  There  should 

[190] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

be  very  few  or  no  parts  that  are  bare  glass.  Even 
the  deep  shadows  should  show  some  slight  light- 
action,  and  the  dense  parts  should  not  be  so 
dense  that  the  gradations  in  the  highlights  can- 
not be  printed.  The  negative  must  be  adjusted 
to  the  printing  process  that  is  to  be  used,  and 
only  experience  will  enable  the  worker  to  judge 
this  correctly.  For  platinum  printing,  a  little 
more  density  is  needed  than  for  bromide  enlarg- 
ing. Overdevelopment  must  always  be  avoided. 
It  is  easier  to  intensify  a  negative  that  is  too 
thin  than  to  reduce  one  that  is  too  dense.  In 
case  intensification  is  needed,  the  following  form- 
ula will  be  found  to  be  very  satisfactory. 

The  negative  is  first  bleached  in  the  following 
saturated  solution: 

Mercuric  chloride  (corrosive  sublimate) 1 

ounce 
Hot  water 16  ounces 

After  cooling  this  solution  and  pouring  off  from 
the  feathery  white  crystals  thrown  down,  add: 

Hydrochloric  acid 30  minims 

This  gives  the  bleaching  solution,  which  will 
keep  well,  and  which  can  be  used  repeatedly  until 
it  is  exhausted.  It  should,  therefore,  be  returned 
to  the  bottle  after  use. 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

After  washing  well  the  bleached  negative  is 
blackened  in  any  one  of  the  following  three 
solutions: 

A.  Ammonia  (0.880) 20  drops 

Water 1  ounce 

(This  gives  great  intensification  and  good 
black  color.) 

B.  Sodium   sulphite,    10%    solution,    made 

slightly  acid  with  citric  acid. 

C.  An  alkaline  developer,  such  as  hydro- 

chinon.     (This  gives  about  double  the 
intensification  of  B.) 

For  reduction  of  negatives,  either  ammonium 
persulphate  or  Howard  Farmer's  reducer  can  be 
used,  according  to  the  result  that  is  desired.  The 
former  will  tend  to  lessen  contrasts  by  reducing 
the  highlights  more  than  the  shadows,  and  the 
latter  will  have  the  opposite  effect  and  will  reduce 
the  shadows  without  affecting  the  highlights  very 
much. 

Development  is  very  largely  an  automatic  proc- 
ess; the  quality  of  the  negative  is  determined 
by  the  exposure,  and  very  little  can  be  done  to 
remedy  errors  in  exposure.  If  the  negative  is 
known  to  be  overexposed,  the  addition  of  a  little 
extra  bromide  to  the  developer  before  beginning 
development  will  help  a  little,  while  an  under- 

£19211 


Fig.  46.     THE  LITTLE  BOY  IN  THE  PARK 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

exposed  negative  should  be  developed  in  a  very 
dilute  solution,  so  that  the  shadows  will  have  a 
chance  to  develop  up  a  little  before  the  highlights 
become  too  dense.  For  a  subject  in  which  there 
is  likely  to  be  halation,  such  as  portraits  made 
against  the  light,  or  outdoor  pictures,  contre-jour, 
quick  development  with  a  fairly  strong  developer 
will  be  found  to  be  best,  for  the  halation  is  on 
the  under  side  of  the  sensitive  coating,  next  to 
the  glass,  and  if  the  surface  of  the  emulsion  is 
developed  quickly  and  the  action  stopped  before 
the  developer  can  penetrate  through  to  the  glass, 
the  halation  will  not  be  very  apparent.  Films 
are  much  less  liable  to  give  halation  than  glass 
plates,  but  if  plates  are  used  for  such  subjects, 
they  should  be  double-coated  or  backed. 

With  regard  to  printing,  there  are  many  good 
processes,  each  possessing  its  own  possibilities 
and  limitations.  Platinum  is  undoubtedly  the 
process  for  the  pictorialist,  for  it  will  reproduce 
gradations  and  halftones  more  delicately  and  with 
a  longer  range  than  any  other  similar  printing 
process,  but  it  demands  a  good  negative  to  do  it 
justice.  It  will  reproduce  all  the  defects  as  well 
as  all  the  beauties  in  the  negative.  A  limitation 
of  platinum  is  the  fact  that  it  is  a  contact  method 
and,  therefore,  if  large  pictures  are  wanted,  an 
enlarged  negative  must  be  made  if  the  original 
one  is  too  small.  This  is  not  a  very  difficult 

C193] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

matter,  and  good  working  instructions  will  be 
found  in  technical  hand  books.  Carbon,  gum, 
oil  and  bromoil  all  have  individual  and  distinc- 
tive qualities,  and  are  all  very  interesting  proc- 
esses for  artistic  work.  There  are  several  good 
textbooks  dealing  with  each  of  these,  such  as  the 
Photo  Miniature  series,  and  these  should  be  studied 
for  complete  working  instructions. 

Another  process  used  by  many  prominent  pic- 
torialists  is  bromide  enlarging.  There  are  great 
possibilities  for  personal  control  in  this  method 
of  printing,  and  the  control  can  be  and  should 
be  purely  photographic.  Handwork  on  negatives 
or  prints  should  seldom  be  tolerated,  for  it  is 
very  apt  to  falsify  tones  and  gradations  and  thus 
destroy  the  very  quality  that  makes  photography 
worthy  of  being  considered  a  fine  art.  I  have 
seen  gum  prints  in  which  highlights  have  been 
put  in  and  halftones  brushed  away.  The  results 
were  rather  striking  and  effective,  but  not  really 
satisfying  as  pictures.  Bromide  will  give  good 
halftones  and  gradations,  and  will  preserve  pho- 
tographic quality  very  much  in  the  same  manner 
as  a  good  platinum  print.  There  is,  too,  a  wide 
choice  of  surfaces  and  textures,  and  many  inter- 
esting effects  may  be  obtained  by  enlarging 
through  bolting-cloth  or  bond  paper.  The  quality 
of  this  medium,  and  the  worker's  absolute  con- 
trol over  the  size  of  the  picture,  make  bromide 

[194] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

an  adequate  process  for  the  pictorialist,  and  it 
should  not  be  lightly  discarded  for  the  more 
showy  but  less  worthy  attractiveness  of  the  pig- 
ment processes.  Very  few  can  attain  the  fault- 
less technical  skill  and  the  unerring  artistic  judg- 
ment required  to  make  really  worth-while  gum 
prints,  and  a  good  bromide  enlargement  is  better 
than  a  poor  gum  print  and  has  more  real  merit. 

A  picture  is  made  by  the  selection  of  the  sub- 
ject and  by  the  disposition  of  the  lines,  masses 
and  tones  rather  than  by  manipulation  in  print- 
ing, and  the  qualities  that  make  a  photograph 
pictorial  can  be  secured  by  purely  photographic 
means  without  manual  manipulation  of  the  nega- 
tive or  print.  The  artist  in  photography  must 
be  a  sound  technician,  and  should  rely  upon 
purely  photographic  means.  If  he  wants  to  use 
pigments  and  brushes,  there  is  no  reason  why 
he  should  not  do  so,  but  he  would  do  better  to 
use  them  on  a  blank  canvas  than  on  a  photo- 
graphic print. 

My  purpose  here  is  not  to  teach  technical  crafts- 
manship, but  rather  the  application  of  technique 
and  the  principles  of  art.  I  am  taking  for  granted 
that  the  photographer  can  so  control  his  medium 
that  the  picture  will,  in  the  finished  result,  tell 
the  character  and  purpose  of  the  photographer 
himself.  It  should  express  his  thought  and 
meaning,  and  be  so  individualized  that  it  could 

[195] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

not  be  mistaken  for  the  work  of  any  one  else. 
A  photographer  must  have  as  sound  a  knowl- 
edge of  picture-making  as  a  painter,  and  he  must 
have  such  control  over  his  chosen  medium  that 
he  can  put  personal  expression  and  his  own 
individuality  into  his  pictures.  In  picture-mak- 
ing, as  distinguished  from  photographic  record- 
making,  the  artist  aims  to  clothe  the  bare  facts 
in  such  a  manner  that  their  force  will  be  aug- 
mented but  still  truthful.  The  making  of  a 
picture  is  "a  human  activity  consisting  in  this, 
that  one  man  consciously,  by  means  of  certain 
external  signs,  hands  on  to  others  feelings  he 
has  lived  through,  and  that  other  people  are 
affected  by  these  feelings,  and  also  experience 
them." 

The  artist  who  uses  a  camera  should  rely  upon 
means  purely  photographic,  upon  those  which 
grow  out  of  and  belong  to  the  technical  processes, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  he  should  practise  the 
fullest  control.  The  point  of  importance  is  that 
the  picture,  whether  it  reflects  the  feeling  of  the 
artist  or  whether  it  embodies  the  impersonal 
poetry  of  nature,  shall  still  be  able  to  affect  us 
with  some  recognizable  emotion,  that  it  shall  not 
be  a  bare  inventory  of  facts,  but  that  it  shall 
express  something  of  the  relation  between  those 
facts  and  our  own  lives.  It  will  be  found  in 
practice  that  straightforward  photographic  tech- 

[196] 


Fig.  47.    ALMOST  HUMAN 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

nique  is  ample  to  take  care  of  individuality,  and 
that  freakishness  is  neither  necessary  nor  desir- 
able. Just  because  a  picture  is  unusually  low  in 
tone,  it  is  not  necessarily  pictorial.  Too  often 
the  attempt  to  secure  low  tones  results  in  muddi- 
ness  and  a  vagueness  that  is  very  displeasing. 
Gradations  must  at  all  times  be  preserved,  what- 
ever the  key  of  the  picture,  and  purity  of  tone 
and  good  gradations  are  to  be  secured  only 
through  faultless  technique. 

When  the  picture  is  printed,  there  still  remains 
a  very  important  matter  to  be  considered  before 
it  can  be  regarded  as  being  quite  finished.  It 
must  be  mounted  and  perhaps  framed. 

In  the  matter  of  mounting  a  picture  there  are 
two  important  points  to  decide;  the  color  of 
the  mount  and  the  size.  The  color  or  tint  should, 
as  a  rule,  harmonize  with  the  general  tone  of  the 
picture,  that  is  to  say,  a  delicate,  light-toned 
print  usually  looks  best  on  a  light  mount,  while 
a  dark  print  with  a  predominance  of  low  tones  is 
best  mounted  on  a  dark  mount.  The  color  should 
correspond  with  the  color  of  the  picture;  a  warm- 
toned  print,  sepia  or  red,  should  be  placed  upon 
a  mount  of  a  corresponding  color,  and  a  gray  print 
on  a  gray  or  white  mount.  Grays  and  browns 
should  never  be  combined  on  the  same  mount. 

Multiple  mounting,  a  style  that  was  much 
used  some  years  ago,  has  now  fortunately  become 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

obsolete,  and  less  elaborate  and  distracting 
mounts  are  generally  used.  Many  of  the  promi- 
nent and  well-known  exhibitors  use  almost  ex- 
clusively a  large  white  or  very  light  cream-colored 
mount  with  no  decoration  or  embellishments  of 
any  kind  except,  in  some  instances,  a  title  and  a 
signature. 

The  function  of  a  mount  is  to  separate  the 
print  from  its  surroundings,  to  isolate  it  from 
other  pictures,  so  that  its  beauties  may  be  easily 
appreciated.  The  mount  must,  therefore,  be 
quite  unobtrusive  and  must  not  force  itself  upon 
the  attention,  or  it  will  defeat  its  own  end.  Sim- 
plicity is  the  keynote  in  mounting,  as  it  is  in 
making  the  picture,  and  instead  of  the  half- 
dozen  or  more  various  tints  that  were  often  used 
in  the  early  days  of  multiple  mounting,  one 
single  tint  of  a  corresponding  tone,  a  little  lighter 
or  a  little  darker  than  the  mount,  is  all  that  need 
ever  be  used  between  the  print  and  the  mount. 
Even  this  is  often  unnecessary,  unless  the  con- 
trast between  the  print  and  the  mount  seems  to 
need  softening.  Sometimes,  if  the  print  is  on  a 
light  mount,  the  mount  may  be  decorated  with  a 
pencil  line  drawn  around  the  print,  but  such  a 
line,  with  perhaps  a  title  and  a  signature,  is  all 
that  should  ever  be  placed  on  the  mount  besides 
the  picture.  Often  the  signature  can  be  placed 
on  the  print  itself. 

[198] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

The  choice  between  a  light  or  a  dark  mount 
depends  upon  whether  the  print  is  light  or  dark. 
It  is  possible  to  modify  the  appearance  of  a  print 
to  a  slight  extent  by  varying  the  tone  of  the 
mount.  If  the  print  is  just  a  trifle  too  light,  it- 
may  be  strengthened  a  little  and  made  to  appear 
darker  by  mounting  on  a  very  light  mount,  and 
if  it  is  too  dark,  it  will  appear  a  little  lighter  if 
placed  on  a  dark  mount.  This  effect  is  the  same 
as  was  referred  to  in  Chapter  VI,  where  we 
noted  the  effect  of  the  surrounding  tone  on  a  tint 
of  gray.  Surrounded  by  light  tones,  the  same 
tint  would  appear  to  be  appreciably  darker  than 
if  it  were  surrounded  by  a  tone  darker  than 
itself. 

The  size  of  the  mount  and  its  shape  must  also 
be  considered.  The  size  must  be  governed  to 
some  extent  by  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  in-* 
tended.  If  for  exhibition  purposes,  a  larger 
mount  may  well  be  used  than  would  be  necessary 
if  the  picture  were  kept  in  a  portfolio  or  shown 
apart  from  other  pictures.  On  the  walls  of  an  ex- 
hibition room,  the  need  for  isolating  and  separating 
the  print  from  others  is  more  urgent  than  if  the 
print  is  seen  only  at  home,  and,  therefore,  a 
larger  mount  is  called  for.  The  shape  of  the 
mount  depends  entirely  upon  the  shape  of  the 
print,  and  the  position  of  the  print  on  the  mount 
is  a  question  that  is  often  puzzling.  Here  is  a 

[199] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

good  rule  that  may  safely  be  followed.  Make 
the  top  and  side  margins  equal  in  width  and  the 
bottom  considerably  wider.  Eccentric  placing  on 
the  mount  is  very  seldom  advisable;  it  only 
serves  to  draw  attention  to  the  mount,  which  is 
just  what  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible. 

In  the  matter  of  framing  their  prints,  photog- 
raphers have  shown  themselves  to  be  more 
artistic  than  painters,  who  are  only  gradually 
realizing  the  inappropriateness  of  the  gilded 
abominations  in  which  they  frame  their  pictures. 
As  a  general  rule  the  frames  that  painters  use 
are  not  specially  designed  for  the  pictures.  Only 
a  very  few  painters  consider  this  to  be  necessary, 
but  photographers  usually  take  some  pains  to 
select  a  frame  that  is  appropriate  in  tone  and 
design.  In  some  respects  it  is  easier  for  a  photog- 
rapher to  decide  on  a  suitable  frame,  because  his 
prints  are  limited  to  one  color  and,  in  choosing  a 
frame,  he  can  obtain  variety  and  harmony  by 
playing  upon  gradations  of  that  color.  Here,  as 
before,  simplicity  must  be  the  chief  considera- 
tion, and  the  frame  should  never  be  obtrusive 
either  in  color  or  design. 

Careful,  skilful  craftsmanship  is  essential  in 
picture-making,  and  strict  attention  must  be 
paid  to  every  detail.  A  picture  can  be  spoiled 
by  careless  workmanship,  just  as  a  great  composi- 
tion in  music  can  be  spoiled  by  faulty  execution. 

[200] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

Technical  details  must  be  thoroughly  mastered 
before  the  soul  of  art  can  be  discovered. 

Those  who  are  attracted  by  figure  work  and 
portraiture  sometimes  feel  that  they  cannot  take 
up  this  branch  of  picture-making  without  master- 
ing thoroughly  what  is  commonly  supposed  to  be 
a  very  difficult  accomplishment  —  the  art  of  re- 
touching. Retouching  really  is  not  difficult  at 
all  for  the  pictorial  worker,  because  it  never  is 
necessary  or  desirable  for  him  to  "finish"  the 
picture  as  is  commonly  done  by  the  professional, 
and  the  mysteries  of  "stipple"  and  "cross- 
hatching"  and  other  such  conventionalities  do 
not  concern  him  at  all.  In  fact,  such  things 
should  be  strenuously  avoided. 

It  is  absolutely  essential  that  the  artist  should 
do  any  necessary  retouching  himself,  for  it  would 
probably  ruin  the  picture  to  send  it  to  a  pro- 
fessional retoucher  to  be  "finished."  He  must 
carry  out  his  own  ideas,  and  do  everything  in 
his  own  way  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  aim  of  the  artist  should  be  to  bring  out 
as  much  as  possible  the  character  of  the  face  by 
the  lighting  and  by  the  proper  selection  of  the 
point  of  view.  These  having  been  considered, 
the  next  essential  is  to  select  the  most  pleasing 
and  the  most  characteristic  expression.  Re- 
touching should  never  be  relied  upon  to  correct 
faulty  lighting  or  to  change  the  expression. 
[201: 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

We  have  seen  that  a  picture  is  largely  a  matter 
of  suggestion  rather  than  the  representation  of 
actual  facts,  and  that  the  suggestion  is  conveyed 
largely  by  means  of  emphasis  and  elimination. 
Retouching  is  one  of  the  most  useful  methods  of 
emphasis  and  elimination,  and  as  such  it  is  of 
tremendous  use  to  the  artist  who  can  use  it  intel- 
ligently. It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  strengthen 
highlights  on  the  negative,  in  order  to  emphasize 
the  modeling,  and  it  is  occasionally  desirable  to 
soften  wrinkles  or  blemishes  in  the  skin,  which 
are  apt  to  be  far  more  noticeable  in  a  picture 
than  they  are  in  real  life.  A  fully-corrected  lens, 
as  we  have  seen,  renders  everything  with  abso- 
lute impartiality,  and  a  line  or  a  wrinkle  per- 
manently recorded  on  the  photographic  negative 
appears  to  be  more  prominent  than  we  think  it  is. 
The  camera  does  not  create  these  lines  and 
wrinkles:  they  are  really  there,  but,  owing  to 
the  constantly  changing  lighting  and  the  vary- 
ing expressions  on  the  face  in  nature,  we  scarcely 
notice  them  until  they  are  ruthlessly  and  merci- 
lessly depicted  with  unimaginative  and  mechani- 
cal accuracy  by  the  lens  and  dry  plate.  Some 
lines  and  wrinkles  are  part  of  the  character  of 
the  face;  some  of  them  are  only  the  temporary 
accompaniment  of  a  fleeting  expression,  but, 
whatever  they  are,  a  fully  corrected  lens,  focused 
sharply,  will  render  everything  with  startling 

[202] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

vividness  and  without  discrimination.  From 
motives  of  charity,  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of 
artistic  truthfulness,  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to 
smooth  out  a  wrinkle  or  two,  or  to  remove  a  few 
disfiguring  freckles. 

A  soft-focus  lens  will  aid  very  materially  in 
rendering  the  essentials  in  portraiture.  A  lens 
of  this  kind  seems  to  do  away  with  the  irritating 
mechanical  quality  of  photography;  it  seems  to 
possess  an  almost  human  power  of  selection,  and 
discriminates  in  a  wonderful  way  between  the 
essential  and  the  unessential.  The  fact  that  the 
lens  gives  soft  focus  because  of  incomplete  chroma- 
tic correction  helps  very  much  in  the  case  of 
freckles.  Chromatic  aberration  in  a  lens  means 
that  the  different  colors  of  the  spectrum  are 
brought  to  a  focus  in  different  planes,  at  differ- 
ent distances  from  the  lens.  Thus,  when  the 
blues  and  violets  are  clearly  focused,  the  yellows 
and  reds  are  out  of  focus.  So,  in  the  case  of  a 
sitter  with  blue  eyes,  yellow  or  red  hair,  and 
freckles,  if  the  eyes  are  focused  clearly,  the  hair 
is  massed  and  the  freckles  softened,  so  that  they 
are  not  any  more  noticeable  than  in  real  life. 
The  red  in  the  lips  is  also  out  of  focus,  and  little 
cracks  and  wrinkles  on  the  lips  are  obliterated. 

The  boy  shown  in  Fig.  48  has  blue  eyes  and 
yellow  hair,  and  the  chromatic  aberration  in  the 
lens  has  caused  the  eyes  to  appear  sharper  and 

C203] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

clearer  than  anything  else  in  the  picture.  This 
portrait,  made  with  a  16-inch  Smith  lens,  Series 
I,  the  original  single  lens,  was  made  as  an  experi- 
ment with  a  very  large  aperture,  and  the  effect 
of  chromatic  aberration,  as  described,  is  quite 
apparent. 

Much  can  be  done  to  minimize  the  need  for 
retouching  by  the  proper  use  of  the  right  kind  of 
lens,  and  by  care  in  focusing.  All  such  methods 
as  this  should  be  employed  to  the  fullest  extent, 
and  the  lighting  and  posing  should  also  be  con- 
sidered as  a  means  of  avoiding  the  necessity  for 
actual  handwork  on  the  negative,  but  when  such 
handwork  is  found  to  be  requisite,  it  should  by 
all  means  be  used  to  aid  the  artist  in  his  repre- 
sentation. 

A  retouching  desk  can  be  easily  made  at  home. 
A  few  pencils  that  have  very  long,  fine  points 
and  a  small  bottle  of  retouching  medium  are 
all  that  are  needed  for  the  work.  The  pencils 
may  be  sharpened  on  a  piece  of  fine  sandpaper. 
The  points  must  be  very  long  and  very  fine, 
rather  like  a  darning  needle.  The  artist  should 
avoid  copying  the  methods  of  the  professional 
retoucher,  who  usually  does  far  more  than  is 
necessary.  The  fact  that  the  picture  has  been 
retouched  should  never  be  apparent.  The  fine 
"stipple"  and  finish  all  over  the  face  that  is  so 
often  seen  in  professional  portraits  is  entirely 

[204] 


Fig.  48.     GORDON 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

unnecessary,  in  fact,  it  simply  destroys  the 
modeling  of  the  face  and  the  texture  of  the  skin. 
If  the  pictorialist  will  confine  himself  to  a  little 
softening  of  wrinkles  or  freckles,  and  perhaps 
slight  strengthening  of  some  highlights,  if  that 
seems  to  be  really  needed,  he  will  have  done  all 
that  should  be  done.  The  modeling,  texture  and 
character  of  the  face  must  be  shown  by  the  light- 
ing, the  pose  and  intelligent  focusing,  rather  than 
by  the  crude  method  of  retouching,  which  never 
can  approach  the  delicacy  of  pure  photographic 
technique. 

In  actual  practice,  such  retouching  as  the 
artist  needs  will  be  found  to  be  comparatively 
easy.  A  little  medium  should  be  rubbed  on  the 
negative,  over  the  place  to  be  retouched.  Only 
a  very  little  is  needed,  and  it  should  be  rubbed 
over  smoothly,  so  that  there  is  no  hard  line 
where  the  medium  stops.  The  wrinkles,  if  there 
are  any,  should  be  softened  with  very  light, 
gentle  strokes  of  the  pencil.  These  strokes 
should  never  be  made  so  that  they  show  as  actual 
pencil  marks.  Only  the  effect  of  the  pencil 
strokes  should  be  seen,  just  as  when  a  delicate 
drawing  is  being  finished.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  work  too  lightly,  but  any  one  with  a  delicate 
touch  should  have  no  trouble  in  making  the 
strokes  so  that  they  blend  into  the  surrounding 
tones. 

[205] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

There  are  certain  lines  and  wrinkles  that  may 
be  softened  more  than  others.  The  vertical  fur- 
row often  found  between  the  eyebrows  may 
be  softened  considerably  without  destroying  the 
likeness,  and  this  will  greatly  improve  the  expres- 
sion. The  drooping  shadows  at  the  corners  of 
the  mouth,  and  the  lines  from  the  corner  of  the 
mouth  to  the  nostril,  known  as  the  labial  furrow, 
often  need  working  over.  Wrinkles  at  the  cor- 
ners of  the  eyes  should  rarely  be  tampered  with; 
they  are  part  of  the  character  of  the  face,  and 
their  removal  would  spoil  the  likeness.  Freckles, 
if  they  show  very  plainly  in  the  picture,  may  be 
softened  a  little,  but  they  should  not  be  removed 
altogether. 

Only  a  very  little  work  should  ever  be  done 
in  the  way  of  strengthening  highlights.  They 
should  be  looked  after  in  the  lighting  and  posing, 
but  sometimes  a  little  fine  and  careful  work  on 
them  may  be  a  means  of  emphasizing  character. 

Very  often  it  will  be  found  that  no  retouching 
at  all  is  needed.  This  is  usually  the  case  when  a 
soft-focus  lens  is  used,  and  especially  when  the 
sitter  is  young  and  has  a  smooth  skin. 

The  art  in  retouching  lies  in  knowing  when  to 
stop.  Contrary  to  the  ideas  held  by  the  average 
commercial  professional,  retouching  is  not  an 
added  beauty  or  a  method  of  making  pictures 
more  attractive.  It  is  merely  a  rather  clumsy 

[206] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

method  of  eliminating  some  otherwise  unavoid- 
able defects,  which  are  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  using  an  undiscriminating  lens.  Retouching  is 
not  to  be  commended  for  its  own  sake;  it  should 
be  regarded  merely  as  a  means  of  correcting  the 
inherent  tendency  of  the  lens  to  record  both  the 
essential  and  the  unessential.  It  is  not  a  photo- 
graphic process,  but  an  after-treatment  of  the 
negative.  It  is  a  method  of  drawing  on  the  nega- 
tive with  a  lead  pencil  in  order  to  obtain  certain 
effects  in  the  print. 

In  the  matter  of  trimming  a  print,  the  prin- 
ciples of  composition  must  often  be  observed.  The 
size  and  shape  of  the  picture  are  entirely  matters 
of  artistic  judgment,  and  the  artist  should  feel 
perfectly  justified  in  cutting  down  a  picture  if  it 
can  thereby  be  improved  in  any  way.  As  an 
exercise  in  space-filling,  it  is  interesting  to  see 
how  near  one  can  come  to  making  a  satisfactory 
composition  that  will  just  fill  the  plate  or  film 
that  is  being  used,  without  any  trimming.  This 
is  often  hard  to  do,  especially  if  the  picture-maker 
has  a  keen  appreciation  of  spacing.  Even  if  the 
makers  of  plates  and  films  are  obliged  to  make 
their  sensitive  material  in  certain  sizes,  so  that 
they  will  fit  certain  cameras,  the  artist  is  bound 
down  by  no  such  regulations,  and  can  make  his 
pictures  any  size  he  pleases,  being  guided  only 
by  considerations  of  artistic  arrangement.  Often 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

we  find  that  the  subject  we  select  will  occupy 
only  a  portion  of  the  plate,  and  then  it  is  better 
to  make  the  picture  small  and  take  it  from  the 
right  point  of  view,  rather  than  make  it  bigger 
by  getting  too  close. 

In  trimming  a  print,  the  artist  must  be  guided 
to  some  extent  by  the  position  of  the  main  object 
of  interest.  This,  as  we  have  seen,  should  usually 
be  placed  about  one-third  of  the  width  of  the 
picture-space  away  from  one  side  and  the  top  or 
bottom  of  the  picture.  Often  it  improves  a  pic- 
ture to  trim  off  part  or  all  of  the  sky.  Some- 
times the  foreground  is  bare  and  uninteresting, 
and  may  well  be  dispensed  with.  Such  things  as 
these  should  always  be  considered  to  be  of  greater 
importance  than  trying  to  make  the  picture  a 
certain  shape  so  that  it  will  fit  a  certain-sized 
mount.  The  mount  must  be  made  to  fit  the 
picture  rather  than  the  picture  to  fit  the  mount, 
and,  therefore,  the  use  of  stock  mounts  with 
borders  is  rarely  practicable. 

In  trimming  portraits,  the  position  of  the  head 
in  the  picture-space  must  be  carefully  considered, 
for  the  apparent  height  of  the  sitter  can  be  varied 
by  trimming  close  or  by  leaving  space  above  the 
head.  When  the  head  is  near  the  top  of  the 
picture,  we  get  the  impression  that  the  sitter  is 
tall,  and  a  certain  dignity  and  importance  is  sug- 
gested. When  the  head  is  low  in  the  picture- 

[208] 


IN  PHOTOGRAPHY 

space,  it  conveys  a  suggestion  that  the  sitter  is 
small.  Another  way  in  which  dignity  and  height 
can  be  added  in  a  portrait  of  a  full-length  stand- 
ing figure  is  by  cutting  off  the  feet.  This  gives 
the  impression  of  added  height  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  difficult  to  tell  just  how  much  has  been  cut 
off  and  we  can  imagine  it  is  more  than  it  really 
is.  This  is  a  matter  of  placing  in  the  picture- 
space,  rather  than  trimming,  but  the  same  effect 
can  be  obtained  by  trimming,  if  necessary. 

In  picture-making  a  good  deal  of  practical 
common  sense  is  needed,  and  the  rules  and  prin- 
ciples should  be  regarded  as  guides,  to  be  observed 
or  disregarded  as  seems  best.  When  a  rule  is 
broken,  there  should  be  a  good  reason  for  doing 
so,  and  the  artist  should  know  what  he  is  doing. 

It  must  be  understood  that  in  picture-making 
the  methods  used  by  one  photographer  may  be 
entirely  unsuited  to  another.  This  must  be  so, 
or  there  would  be  little  or  no  individuality  in 
pictures  by  different  artists.  The  principles  re- 
ferred to  in  this  book  are  merely  some  of  the 
fundamentals,  and  each  artist  must  develop  his 
own  individuality,  while  still  adhering  more  or 
less  closely  to  these  basic  principles.  I  have  en- 
deavored to  make  clear  to  those  interested  in 
the  artistic  side  of  photography  how  the  me- 
chanics of  suggestion  can  be  applied  in  picture- 
making.  Such  things  as  line,  spacing,  mass, 

[209] 


PICTORIAL  COMPOSITION 

balance,  perspective,  and  so  on,  are  just  so  many 
cogs  in  the  machinery.  How  they  are  put  to- 
gether depends  upon  the  ingenuity  and  skill 
of  the  individual.  The  old-fashioned  hand-brake 
on  a  trolley  car  is  an  arrangement  of  cogs  and 
wheels,  and  so  is  a  lady's  watch.  Both  use  the 
same  mechanical  principles,  yet  how  different  are 
the  results!  There  is  much  to  learn  in  making 
pictures.  Only  a  little  can  be  gathered  from 
books.  The  greater  part  of  the  knowledge  must 
consist  of  actual  experience. 

I  am  only  too  well  aware  that  much  has  been 
omitted  and  that  many  important  points  have 
been  but  lightly  touched  upon,  yet  I  hope  that 
there  may  be  enough  in  this  book  to  stimulate  the 
desire  for  further  investigation  along  the  lines  of 
pictorial  composition. 


[210] 


INDEX 

PAGE 

Accent 75, 107, 124 

Anderson,  A.  J 25, 60, 161 

Angle  of  view,  that  can  be  seen  by  the  eye 88,  118 

included  by  a  5-inch  lens 88 

included  by  a  14-inch  lens 89 

Appreciation  of  beauty,  the 4 

Art,  not  always  creative 7 

definition  of ;, 164 

At  the  Close  of  a  Stormy  Day 108 

Atmosphere 91 

lack  of , 92 

Background 137 

Balance 128 

of  the  steelyard 46 

Beauty,  the  attributes  of 23 

depends  upon  truth 23 

Blake,  A.  H 22 

Breadth 67 

Bromide  enlarging 194 

Cadby,  Will 10,  50,  57, 108, 109 

Center,  main  object  of  interest  should  not  be  in  the 47 

Characteristics,  of  different  mediums 49 

of  photography 51 

Claude 175 

Coburn,  Alvin  Langdon 10, 22, 135 

Color,  lack  of,  a  source  of  disappointment 20 

Composition,  can  become  a  habit 6 

what  is 8 

exercise  of  the  power  of  selection  in 13 

the  mechanics  of  suggestion 9, 13, 20, 27, 32 

appropriate    action   following   a    careful   analysis   of 

impressions 15 

C  211  3 


INDEX 

~                   .A.  PAOE 

Composition, 

very  largely  common  sense 16, 27 

an  impulse 27 

a  matter  of  instinct 27, 170, 172 

definition  of 30 

constructive  and  selective 31, 124 

the  function  of 124 

Concentration  of  interest 22 

Copying  machine,  the  camera  a 9, 101 

Crescent  Beach 80 

Curve,  simple 126 

S-shaped 128 

figure  8 129 

Day  after  Christmas,  The 150 

Day,  F.  Holland 109 

Detail,  not  detrimental  to  the  success  of  a  picture 114 

Developer  for  negatives 189 

Development  of  negatives 190 

largely  automatic 192 

Diagonal  of  plates 88 

Difference  between  painting  and  photography 36 

Dow,  Arthur 64 

Duhrkoop,  Rudolph 135 

Echo  Bridge 15 

Eickemeyer,  Rudolph 18 

Emotions  are  what  concern  the  picture  maker 16 

Emphasis 117 

by  isolation 119 

by  elimination 119 

by  radiation  of  lines 119 

by  contrast  in  tone 119 

of  one  particular  feature  necessary 167 

Explorers,  The 80 

Exposure,  full,  will  preserve  truth  of  tone 179 

under,  a  common  failing 182 

Fair-haired  Boy,  The 78, 171 

Fenway,  Boston.     Museum  of  Fine  Arts 23 

Figure-8  curve 129 

C  212  ] 


INDEX 

FAOB 

Figures  in  landscape  pictures 78 

Flower  studies 187 

Focal  length,  determines  size  of  objects 85 

characterization  of 88 

estimation  of 88 

Framing 200 

Full-face  portraits 132 

Full-length  standing  figure 125 

Fuzziness 68, 115 

Genre 81 

Good  taste,  needed  in  picture  making 170 

can  be  cultivated 173 

Govett,  "Art  Principles" 165, 180 

Groups 136 

Gum  prints 50 

Hands  in  portraits,  the 129 

Hand   work    carried   too   far   will   destroy   photographic 

quality 73 

Hard  work  the  secret  of  success 175 

Harlem  River,  The 75, 120 

Home  portraiture 155 

outfit  for 162 

Illusion,  aim  of  the  artist  to  create 178 

of  relief 178 

of  opening  distance 178 

of  movement  and  sound 180 

Imagination,  an  important  factor 19 

an  attribute  of  the  artist 175 

Impressionists,  artists  are 168 

Individuality  of  the  artist 10 

Instinct,  pictures  made  by 172 

Intensification 191 

Japanese  Art 30,  65 

Kasebier,  Mrs.,  human  documents 19, 109 

Key 57 

[  213  ] 


INDEX 

PAGE 

Landscape  pictures,  the  need  for  broad  and  impressionistic 

treatment  in 167 

often  first  choice 176 

Large-sized  heads 131, 135 

Lens,  draws  shading 52 

soft-focus,  for  pictorial  work 67 

Spencer  Port-Land 69 

Verito 69 

Smith 69 

Smith  Synthetic 70 

Struss  Pictorial 70 

soft-focus,  needs  to  be  studied 73 

long-focus,  should  be  selected  for  pictorial  work 85 

rapid  rectilinear 89 

does  not  discriminate Ill 

semi-achromatic 112 

Libby,  Francis t  65 

Lighting,  the  ability  to  see 144 

diagram  of 145 

Limitations,  hi  representation 19 

lack  of  color 20 

representation  of  depth  and  space 20 

reduction  to  a  small  area 21 

Lines,  the  expression  of 37 

of  great  importance 37 

language  of 37 

horizontal 37 

vertical 38 

oblique 38 

possibly  of  suggesting  emotions  by  means  of 39 

triangular  formation  of 41,  127 

curved 43 

S-shaped,  of  beauty 43 

Z-shaped 44 

the  unseen 44 

repetition  of,  with  variety 126 

rectangular  arrangement  of 128 

Lost  edge,  the 126 

Mass 62 

strength  of 63 

[  214  ] 


INDEX 

Mass, 

may  be  light  or  dark  in  tone 65 

appreciation  of 66 

massing  of  detail  imparts  breadth 67 

how  to  study 74 

McKnight,  Dodge 22 

Mechanics  of  suggestion,  the 9, 13, 20, 21, 27, 32 

Meyer,  Baron  de 19 

Monet 11 

Moods,  in  individuals 13 

in  nature « . .  14 

Moonlight  scenes 184 

Mortimer,  F.  J 109, 110 

Mounting 197 

Night  photography 185 

Notan 64 

Ordinary  lighting 145, 159 

Orthochromatic  plates,  use  of,  does  not  exaggerate  at- 
mosphere    93 

will  enable  a  photographer  to  exercise  some  control 

over  his  results 97 

without  a  screen 98 

not  always  indispensable 96,  99 

desirable  for  snow  scenes 103 

for  portraiture 151 

Outfit  for  home  portraiture 162 

Panchromatic  plate,  use  of,  desirable  in  many  branches  of 

photographic  work 94 

seldom  necessary  for  pictorial  work 99 

Personal  control 73 

Perspective,  linear 84 

truth  of,  governed  by  point  of  view 84 

agreeable,  given  by  long-focus  lens 89 

viewpoint  rather  than  focal  length  of  lens  determines .  90 

aerial 91 

Photograph,  nothing  but  an  arrangement  of  varying  shades 

of  monotone 19 

pictorial 8 

C  215  ] 


INDEX 


Photographer,  pictorial 26 

Photography,  a  fine  art 53 

Picture,  what  is  a 22 

should  be  regarded  as  a  pattern 28,  34, 173 

Picture  making,  the  aim  in 164 

two  classes  in 165 

Placing  of  the  head  in  picture  space 133 

Planes 179 

Platinum  printing 56, 193 

Plum  Island 76, 78, 120, 171 

Poore,  Henry  R 46 

Porterfield,  Wilbur  H 10,  65 

Portraits,  composition  in,  constructive  rather  than  selective    124 

the  hands  in 129 

the  eyes  in 133 

the  background  in 137 

the  tones  in 143 

the  tendency  to  make  the  face  too  light  in 148 

outdoor 151 

in  sunlight 153 

in  the  home 155 

Principality 117 

Profile 102, 147 

Reduction 192 

Refinement 142 

Rembrandt, 113 

lighting 145, 158 

Repetition  with  variety 24 

Representation,  what  we  can  do  in  the  way  of  actual,  is 

limited 12 

Restraint 116 

Retouching 201 

Rey,  Guido,  of  Turin 82 

Reynolds 175 

Schutze,  Eva  Watson- 156 

Selective  focusing Ill 

Semi-achromatic  lens 72,  112, 114 

Shadows 183 

[  216  ] 


INDEX 

PAGB 

Simplicity 104 

of  line 105 

of  tone 105 

of  subject 108 

the  importance  of 110 

in  portraiture 113 

importance  of,  in  landscape  pictures 167 

Smith  lens 69 

Synthetic  lens 70 

Snow  scenes 103 

Soft-focus  lens,  for  pictorial  work 66 

for  portraiture 71 

needs  to  be  studied 73 

Spacing 33, 35,  62 

Spencer  Port-Land  lens 69 

S-shaped  curve 128 

Starting  Out 75, 120, 122 

Steelyard 46 

Steichen 10 

Stevenson,  R.  L.,  "Ordered  South" 7 

Stieglitz 22 

Still  Life 187 

Strong  positions  in  picture  space 76 

Struss  Pictorial  lens 70 

Subject,  choice  of 109 

Suggestion,  in  representation 12,  21 

an  important  element  in  picture  making 166 

Summer  Landscape,  A 15 

Sum  of  breadth  and  length  of  plates 88 

Sunrise  and  sunset  pictures 184 

Sympathy 109 

Theme  of  a  picture 26 

Tones,  the  most  important  consideration  in  dealing  with 

pictures  made  with  a  camera 49 

what  are 54 

the  characteristic  virtue  of  photography 51 

depend  upon  exposure 60 

may  be  simplified 102 

apparent  strength  of  tone  may  be  modified  by  sur- 
rounding tones 121, 141 

[  217  ] 


INDEX 

PAGE 

Tones, 

in  portraiture 142 

truth  of,  in  portraiture 148 

Trimming 207 

Truthfulness  of  representation 166 

Turner 175 

Underexposure  a  very  common  failing 182 

Unity 22 

Variety  of  line 40 

Velasquez : 113 

Verito  lens 69 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  note-book 91 

Ward,  H.  Snowden 72, 164 

Weil,  Mathilde 156 

Whistler 100, 113 

Wingaersheek  Beach 107, 108 


C  218 


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